Red Carpet Romance
by mikotyzini
Summary: A movie star. An author. A chance meeting and an instant spark. This is the story of how two strangers fall in love - and all of the adventures that come with it. [Hollywood AU - all fluff!]
1. Chapter 1

**The moment I've been waiting for for so long! It's finally here! I'm so excited for this story, it's crazy.**

**If you've read my other stories, you'll know that I spend an awful lot of time putting poor Bumblebee through the wringer. And it breaks my heart just as much as yours :( ****So, I decided to create this AU...a Hollywood AU...and pack it so full of fluff it's nearly going to float away - It's just so fluffy! **

**White Rose WILL appear eventually and (I think) in a very interesting way. But until then, it's just a whole lot of bees, bees, and more bees. Enjoy!**

**(And I don't own RWBY - I won't repeat that every chapter)**

* * *

><p>Yang walked out of the gym into the late morning sun after a rather vigorous workout. Still clad in her workout clothes, she knew that she probably should have changed at the gym in case there are any cameras around (at least, that's what her agent would say), but she really didn't care if she got caught. She didn't live too far from here, so she wouldn't be outside for long.<p>

Plus, in her form fitting black shorts, yellow spaghetti strap tank with black and yellow sneakers, she actually thought she looked pretty good. Maybe not _red carpet_ good, but at least regular person good…

But the weather outside was just too nice today for her not to walk the fifteen minutes back to her apartment. Clear and warm, it was the perfect temperature to be strolling by the many shops and restaurants in the area.

Currently in between projects, she actually finally had some free time to enjoy days like today without her cell phone ringing constantly with one person after another trying to get ahold of her. Still, she knew that her agent would contact her at least two more times today (the first had already occurred this morning to remind her that she _didn't_ have anything scheduled for today...as if she had needed a reminder for that).

Walking down the sidewalk, she wondered why there weren't more people out enjoying the perfect weather. Then, she remembered that it was a Wednesday at 11 a.m. and most people would be stuck in their offices for at least a few more hours.

She received some stares from the few people who were out, but nothing too egregious. Fortunately, she had gotten used to the feeling years ago; no longer did she feel violated by the looks as she once had.

It was at that time that she felt a familiar presence nearby…something that made her skin crawl and the hairs on her arm stand on end.

"Fancy meeting you here, Yang."

She froze at the sound of the familiar voice, internally chastising herself for being dumb enough to walk home today. After taking a few seconds to compose herself, she slowly turned around to greet the speaker.

"Heyyy…Cinder," she replied as she laid eyes upon the petite brunette standing behind her. She forced a polite smile onto her face for appearances, just in case anyone was watching their interaction. Mentally, she kicked herself for having not noticed the girl when she had stepped out of the coffee shop Yang had just walked past.

"How have you been?" Cinder asked civilly, taking a step forward into her personal space. Yang's immediate reaction was to take one step back, trying to maintain some semblance of a safe buffer between them.

"Oh, you know, just busy…" she replied, backing further away while she attempted to end the conversation as quickly as possible. Nothing good could come of an extended interaction with the brunette.

Of course, Cinder was persistent, as always, matching Yang step for step as they continued their unusual stroll down the sidewalk. The girl must have felt so vindicated, catching Yang out in public where the blonde couldn't easily slip away without causing a scene. In fact, the smirk on Cinder's face confirmed that that was exactly how she felt right now.

"You know…I've been thinking that we needed to talk…" the brunette said, reaching out one arm and brushing her fingers lightly down Yang's left shoulder.

Yang (none too subtly) yanked her arm away as if Cinder had tried to touch her with a lit match.

_Way to keep it cool_, she chided herself at her knee jerk reaction.

But as far as she was concerned, they had absolutely nothing left to speak about except for work every once in awhile. Merely exchanging pleasantries seemed to be far too much talking with the woman. But how to make Cinder understand that clearly?

As Yang tried to come up with the perfect words to say, her eyes happened to land upon Plan B - a block in the direction she had just come. Of course, Yang was no coward about speaking to the girl…she just…really didn't want to right now.

"You know…" Yang began, halting her backwards walk and taking a quick step forward, catching Cinder by surprise with their sudden proximity.

She bit the bullet and leaned in even closer, close enough to whisper in Cinder's ear while trying not to gag on the overpowering smell of jasmine.

"I think that…I left my phone at the gym!"

Yang took off as soon as the words left her mouth, making sure to shout, "see ya around!" with a friendly wave as she sprinted back towards her gym.

Who cared about not making a scene, anyway?

"Hey!" Cinder yelled, although her voice carried a lot of qualities similar to an angry growl.

And, just as she had suspected, Cinder pursued her.

Yang couldn't help rolling her eyes. Why did this girl have to be so predictably insane?

She kicked her legs into high gear, silently cursing herself for doing extra stair climbers this morning. She was already at a slight disadvantage to begin with, knowing that Cinder was faster than her over shorter distances. And with her legs already screaming in protest, Yang needed to lose her fast.

That's where the rest of her plan came in. The initial surprise had bought her a few seconds of separation, but, just past the gym, she had spotted a crowd of people lined up outside of a store. It wasn't a huge amount of people, but if she made it to the gathering first, it would block Cinder's line of vision long enough for her to duck inside and hide somewhere.

Now…Yang wasn't _proud_ to be running...but some girls just didn't know how to take "no" for an answer. So, what other choice did she really have?

Hearing the pounding of footsteps behind her, she finally made it to the group of people. Thankfully, she had managed to maintain a few second lead on Cinder.

"Excuse me, pardon me," she said as she shoved in between several people as delicately as possible.

As soon as she was on the other side of the line, she cut to her left, ducking through the doorway into the large book store. Her eyes scanned the layout rapidly, looking for any place that might provide enough cover or a good hiding place. Her vision then fell upon some yellow caution tape blocking off a small hallway for cleaning and repairs. Perfect.

She grinned as she took off towards the hallway, easily hopping the tape and pulling open the first door she could find before slipping inside. She pulled the door shut behind her, but kept it held open a fraction of an inch - just enough so that she could see a sliver of the store outside when she pressed her eye to the doorframe.

Her heart was pounding in her ears from adrenaline as she watched Cinder pause in the store, yellow-orange eyes fiercely searching the room.

Yang felt herself stop breathing when Cinder looked in her direction. Fortunately, the girl's attention was diverted at the perfect moment by one of the store patrons wanting to take a picture with her. Cinder instantly dropped her scowl and happily obliged (everyone knew that it was extremely bad press to turn down a request from a fan, after all). After waving goodbye, Cinder looked around one more time before stalking towards the back entrance of the store.

Yang let out the breath she had been holding in a loud sigh, finally allowing the door to swing completely closed. That had been a close one. She should remember to go thank the person who had distracted…

"May I help you with something?"

"Jesus!" Yang yelped in surprise as she spun around, clutching her chest in an attempt to keep her heart from jumping clean out.

In her haste, she had failed to notice that she had run into a restroom…or that there was another occupant inside.

The girl was sitting on the counter between the sinks, legs dangling off the edge while she peered at Yang with a mildly bemused expression set on her face. Her long, black hair had a slight wave to it, in contrast to Yang's own mess of long, blonde curls. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and white blouse that complimented her slim figure, accompanied by some cute black boots.

But the most striking feature about the girl were her eyes. Filled with intelligence and cunning, they had a piercing quality that made Yang feel as if she were being run through an X-ray machine on high power. They were also the most stunning gold Yang had ever seen.

She was beautiful. Completely, undeniably, 100%, drop-dead gorgeous.

Yang swallowed, her tongue suddenly feeling extraordinarily too large for her own mouth, as she tried to respond to the girl's question.

"I…uh…I was, you know, just…hiding from someone," she answered as nonchalantly as possible, finding no easy lie that would make her look any better than the truth.

The girl gave a small laugh in amusement, the sound causing Yang's heart to begin beating much more quickly than normal.

"Well _that_ part was pretty obvious," she answered with a small smile. "What's not obvious is why."

While the girl struck Yang as rather reserved, she could swear that she saw a playful glint in those amber eyes. And that _laugh_. She could make a recording of that sound, play it 24/7 for the rest of her life, and still never grow tired of hearing it.

Realizing that she was off to a rather poor first impression, she decided that it might not be the best idea to go into more detail on the catastrophe that was Cinder Fall. Now might be a good time to introduce herself, instead.

"I'm Yang," she finally managed to say, stepping forward and extending her right hand towards the girl. "Yang Xiao Long."

The girl looked at her hand interestedly before reaching forward to grasp it, still not leaving her perch upon the counter.

"I know who you are," she replied, shaking Yang's hand briefly before releasing it. "You're in all of those Dust Chronicle movies."

Yang didn't know whether she should be proud or ashamed of herself from that comment. The way the girl said it was purely a statement, with no hint of congratulations or condemnation.

"I'm Blake," the girl said, finally breaking into another smile.

God, the smile, the eyes…Yang was having a really difficult time maintaining her poise right now...what little she might have left.

"It's nice to meet you, Blakeee…?" Yang drew out the last syllable, hoping to coax a last name out of the mysterious girl.

Blake shook her head slightly with a small grin.

"Blake Belladonna."

Yang broke into a huge smile. Cute laugh, cute smile, cute name, just plain _cute_. She committed the name to memory before she realized that it actually sounded vaguely familiar.

"Wait a second…" she remarked as the light bulb finally clicked on in her brain. "The _author_ Blake Belladonna?"

The girl flushed, nearly imperceptibly, but Yang still saw it. She was pretty sure it was the most adorable thing she had seen in her entire life.

"Yes…" Blake answered quietly, as if unsure of how Yang would react to this new information.

"That's awesome! I've read some of your stuff. It's really good! Some of it is quite…steamy."

She grinned, but realized that she was just making Blake appear more and more embarrassed as she gushed.

"Uh…I'm actually up for a part in Snowy Cove," she admitted somewhat guiltily. She didn't want the girl to think that she was soliciting a reference, after all. "B-but I actually don't know if I'll have the time with the new Dust movie shooting soon."

Blake finally smiled at her, causing Yang's heart to beat a little quicker than she would ever care to admit.

"You would make a great Jade."

Yang flushed faster than she had in a long, long time. That was actually the part she was being considered for.

"So…" she began, struggling to maintain a comfortable stream of conversation. "Now you know why I ran in here, but why are _you_ in here?"

Blake looked slowly towards the bathroom stalls before turning her eyes back to Yang, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.

"Should be pretty self-evident, right?"

Now Yang was officially the reddest she had ever been in her life. In the history of time, no one had _ever _been as embarrassed as she currently was. She could swear that steam was coming out of her ears from how hot her cheeks felt.

But why was she so embarrassed? She didn't get self-conscious _that_ easily! And she was great at talking to new people..._especially _girls. So why was _this_ girl getting the better of her?

"Uh…well…usually people don't…hang out here…after…" Yang trailed off, pretty sure her face was fire engine red by this point.

Blake laughed, apparently very amused by Yang's reaction. The sound was like music to her ears, but only increased her embarrassment.

"I was just…waiting here until it was time for me to…make my appearance…" Blake explained cagily, looking down at her hands as she spoke. The sudden shift to modesty caused a smile to spring back onto Yang's face.

At least this girl wasn't as impenetrably aloof as she seemed.

"What kind of appearance would you make at a…oh…"

Yang finally strung two and two together, disappointed that she hadn't understood immediately. She would blame that brain malfunction on the frenzied mindset she had been in when she had entered the store.

"A book signing! That's what all those people are out there for!"

Nodding her head, Blake smiled again, but this time it was much more of a anxious smile than before.

"My new book just came out, so I've had to do these all over the country…"

Yang quirked an eyebrow at the girl's tone.

"You don't seem very happy to be meeting your fans," she observed.

"Well," Blake began, a spark reemerging in her eyes as she looked back up. "It should come as no surprise that authors aren't particularly fond of crowds."

Yang laughed. Sometimes she completely forgot that not everyone was used to being approached on nearly every street corner by complete strangers. And Blake had gotten her, again. This girl was sharp.

"They aren't exactly rabid, so they should be pretty tame to get along with. And, they all adore the worlds you created, so you automatically have things to talk about with every single one of them!"

Blake smiled. In relief? Gratitude? Yang hoped that she had been able to provide some amount of support with her words.

"I guess you're right," Blake finally admitted.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, the author quickly checked the time.

"I should get out there now though," she said as she finally hopped down from the counter. Yang felt a small wave of happiness when she realized that she was actually slightly taller than the raven haired girl.

Blake walked straight up to Yang, causing her heart to begin pounding as the girl grew closer and closer to her. As each inch separating them disappeared, Blake became even more stunning. Finally coming to a stop directly in front of her, Blake raised an eyebrow at her quizzically.

A moment of confusion consumed Yang as she stood there, openly gawking at the beautiful woman standing so close to her. It wasn't until Blake cleared her throat lightly that she realized she was standing in front of the door, effectively blocking the exit.

"S-sorry," Yang stuttered as she stepped hastily out of the way, allowing Blake to walk past her and push open the bathroom door.

The author paused as she was halfway out, holding the door open with her left arm.

"It was nice to meet you, Yang," she said genuinely while sending Yang another smile.

"Y-yeah it was great to meet you too!" she managed to stammer out as the door swung shut once again.

Wow, what was wrong with her today? She was usually just a _little_ more original than that.

Now alone, she leaned her head back against the closest wall, letting out a loud sigh while she listened to the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.

"Damn."


	2. Chapter 2

**The chapters will get longer, promise! These first three are just shorter, so I'm going to put them up this weekend. After that, I'll likely be back to my normal once per week schedule unless I get far ahead.**

**If I could quit my job and just write, I would!**

* * *

><p>"Next!"<p>

Once the magic word was shouted out by the store manager, the next person in line stepped forward. This time it was a young girl, probably around 13 years old.

"Hello," Blake greeted the girl kindly. "What's your name?"

"Daphne! It's sooo awesome to finally meet you in person!" the young girl replied, positively bouncing up and down with excitement as she stood in front of the table. "I've read every single one of your books!"

Blake smiled at her, briefly thinking that the girl was quite young to have read some of the books she had written. But she knew that when she was Daphne's age...well, she had had an avid thirst for the experiences books could offer.

"That's always a nice thing to hear…I hope that means you enjoyed them?" she asked instead while grabbing another hardback off the top of the stack beside her and flipping open the front cover.

"I LOVED them!" Daphne exclaimed rather loudly, causing Blake to flinch nearly imperceptivity from the sudden loud noise.

"Well, I hope that you love this one just as much," Blake replied with a small smile before turning her attention down to the book in front of her. "So, Daphne, what kind of message would you like me to write and who should it be made out to?"

Blake always asked her fans what type of inscription they would like her to write for them. She had been told many times that she didn't have to, that she could just write the same few phrases over and over again, but she liked the idea that she was giving her readers something truly unique and special. Something that actually made their wait in line worth it. Plus, some people came up with some _very_ interesting requests.

"I'd be happy with anything! And it's just for me."

She nodded. The most common request was for something "inspirational," even though Blake felt that she had little authority to be attempting to inspire others. Those were the easiest though, since she borrowed quotes from some exceptionally talented authors who _were_ quite inspirational. Anything she wanted though…that was more difficult…thankfully, she had already gotten a good feel for the young girl's personality. Smart, bubbly, ardent reader… for Daphne, she felt it would be appropriate to write down one of her all-time favorite quotes:

'These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.'

Once she had finished signing her name, she blew lightly on the words to make sure the ink had dried before she shut cover. With another smile, she handed the book over to Daphne, who let out an adorable squeal of happiness as she accepted it.

"Thank you so much!" she cried out as she hopped out of line, standing over to the side to read what Blake had written to her.

It was nice sometimes to see how excited people were to meet her - and they did all share common experiences through the stories she had written. But, it could be very exhausting sometimes to greet new people over and over again for several hours.

She bent over to grab one of the many bottles of water that had been placed on the floor beside her, twisting off the cap in order to take a quick drink. Speaking with all of these people certainly made her thirsty too.

"Next!"

Excited whispers caught Blake's attention as she sensed a small commotion occurring in the crowd in front of her. Looking up curiously, she felt her breath catch in her throat when she found herself staring into deep lilac eyes.

"Hello again," Yang said quietly as she leaned closer to the table so that her words could not be easily overheard by the overly excited crowd of people behind her.

"Uh…I totally cut that lady behind me, so maybe you could be extra nice to her?" Yang smiled in embarrassment at her confession. That beautiful, radiant smile…Blake could probably write an entire book solely based on the blonde's smile.

She had resigned herself to never seeing the gorgeous woman again when she had walked out of the restroom. It wasn't like writers and actresses usually hung around the same crowds, after all…and besides their chance encounter, what really would they have in common? But here Yang stood, grinning at Blake like a fool.

Only then did Blake realize that she was still gawking at the girl in shock.

Collecting herself, she hastily grabbed another copy of her book and set it down in front of her. Flipping over the front cover she looked up to Yang, trying to maintain a calm expression even when her heart was hammering around in her chest from their close proximity.

"What would you like me to write?" she asked, thankful that her voice remained unwavering even though she could feel her hand tremor lightly as she clutched the pen between her fingers.

"Uh…well…" Yang began, leaning in even closer towards Blake as she lowered her voice to just above a whisper.

"I was kind of hoping that you'd...write down your number so that I could invite you to dinner sometime…"

Blake felt her jaw fall open a fraction of an inch. Had Yang Xiao Long really just…asked for her phone number? So that she could ask her out on a date?

Her face flushed heavily when she suddenly realized that from this angle, she could see straight down Yang's top. She dutifully lifted her eyes back to Yang's face, finding the blonde was still smiling at her hopefully, awaiting her response.

She turned away, finding it more and more difficult to think straight while looking into those eyes. Instead, she began scribbling hastily on the front cover of the book in front of her. Once done, she snapped the cover audibly closed and handed the book to the blonde, clicking her pen shut as she did so.

Yang looked at her, confusion reading on her face.

"Next," Blake spoke herself this time, waving the lady at the front of the line forward. Fortunately, Yang got the message and stepped off to the side and out of the way, disappointment radiating from her demeanor.

But Blake felt her pulse racing as she gave a nervous smile to the lady standing in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched closely while Yang opened up the book and read her words.

'I don't usually give my number to girls I meet in restrooms, but I suppose this time I can make an exception. 456-4689 Blake Belladonna'

Her heart skipped another beat when she noticed Yang look over at her again, that stupidly sunny smile back on her face. Snapping the book shut and humming a happy tune to herself, Yang headed out of the store, but not before stopping to take photos with several people along the way.

"I didn't know that Yang Xiao Long was one of your fans!" the lady in front of her said in an excited whisper as Blake absentmindedly passed a signed book across the table to her.

"Yeah…me neither…"


	3. Chapter 3

**I just edited this chapter and was laughing to myself like a fool - so I hope that everyone enjoys it just as much as I do!**

* * *

><p>"I want to call her. When do you think I can call? How long am I supposed to wait before calling?"<p>

Yang was practically bouncing out of her seat at the small café table she and her best friend were currently occupying. The treasured book placed in front of her, she kept flipping open the cover only to feel more butterflies explode in her stomach when she saw the neat handwriting scrawled inside.

A giggle brought her back down to earth, drawing her eyes to the red haired beauty sitting across from her. For what must have already been the tenth time that day, a flush blossomed on her cheeks.

Pyrrha Nikos was one of the world's most sought after models, with her long red hair and vivid green eyes gracing billboards and magazines across the globe. Yang would willingly admit that Pyrrha greatly beat even her in terms of pure beauty.

However, the model was exceedingly humble despite her worldly renown. Unpretentious, supportive, and exceptionally kind, the two girls had instantly hit it off when they had met at an after-party hosted by some huge clothing line Pyrrha represented. They had been best friends ever since.

But right now, Yang narrowed her eyes and frowned at the giggling girl.

"What's so funny?"

Pyrrha waved her hand while she continued laughing. Yang briefly wondered how it was possible for such a simple gesture to appear so composed, until she reminded herself that _everything_ Pyrrha did appeared composed.

"You're smitten!" Pyrrha finally remarked, grinning at Yang's scoff of indignation.

"I am _not_ smitten! I just…really want to see her again!" she sputtered, feeling her face burn even hotter.

"Then why don't you just call her now?"

"Because!" she exclaimed, shocked that Pyrrha wasn't fully understanding the gravity of the situation. "I can't call her too early and look overzealous…but I can't call her too late and seem uninterested!"

"I see…" Pyrrha forced a straight face as she nodded her head in fake understanding. "But why don't you just call when _you_ want to call?"

Putting her head down in her hands, Yang let out a loud groan before explaining something that everyone should already know.

"There are _rules_ to follow, Pyrrha. Standard dating protocol that needs to be adhered to!"

"Yes…I am aware of 'the rules'…I'm just suggesting that you forget about them."

Her mouth dropped open at Pyrrha's advice. Not follow the rules? What kind of advice was that?

"Pyrrha, do you drive at all?"

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at her silly question.

"What am I asking; of course you do," Yang said hurriedly, brushing past her momentary brain lapse in an effort to still prove her point.

"Imagine if there were no traffic laws in Vale. It would be crazy, right? We'd be swerving all over the place, nearly killing each other or pedestrians…there would be no order at all!"

"And your point is…?" Pyrrha asked.

"The rules keep things organized. They make people feel more comfortable. You don't have to worry about the crazy driver in the lane next to you suddenly pulling a U-turn on a one way street - because that's against the rules."

"I think I understand what you're trying to say…" Pyrrha replied with a nod, clearly trying to suppress a smile at Yang's analogy. "It's just that…you really seem to like her. And if she's as you've described her, I'm pretty sure that she would appreciate the sincerity."

Yang paused to think about Pyrrha's point. Blake did seem much more reserved than most of the people Yang regularly spent time with. Maybe she _would_ appreciate the honesty if Yang just called and said that she couldn't stop thinking about her and that she wanted…no, _needed_…to see her again, right away (or maybe something a little less needy). She did like the idea of treating Blake differently than anyone else…a lot.

"Ok, I'll do it."

She was determined now. And when she set her mind on something, she was going to follow through to the best of her ability.

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Right now?"

"Yeah, right now," Yang snapped as she fished her cell phone out of her bag. Flipping open the cover of the book one more time, she began punching in the phone number written there, trying to ignore Pyrrha's shocked expression at the recent change of events.

Turning away from her friend, she faced the front window of the café as she crossed her legs in front of her. She was attempting to appear calm, but as soon as she hit the 'call' button she could feel her nerves beginning to unravel. She was suddenly acutely aware that she hadn't thought of anything she wanted to say other than "I want to see you again."

"Oh, wow, you really mean right now."

Yang shot Pyrrha a glare as the phone began ringing.

Ring…

Maybe Blake wouldn't even pick up.

Ring…

After all, she had obviously been busy this afternoon. How long did book signings normally last, anyway?

Ring…

Oh god, should she leave a message? What should she even…

"Hello?"

Yang nearly dropped the phone when she heard the voice coming over the other end of the line.

"Oh. Uh…hi! Is this Blake? This is Yang…Yang Xiao Long? We met earlier today…"

A gentle laugh sounded, setting Yang's ears on fire in embarrassment.

"Yes, I do seem to remember meeting you today, although I wasn't expecting you to call so soon..."

"Ah! Yeah…I was going to wait a little longer, but was convinced otherwise."

She tossed another glare towards Pyrrha, who threw both hands up in the air in an attempt to feign innocence.

"So…anyway…I was kind of hoping, if you're free tonight, maybe you'd like to…grab dinner or something? I know that you're probably really tired from the signing today, but I know a great little place in the area…I don't know if you like Italian food or not though. A-and only if you're available - of course! I mean, available as in no prior commitments, not relationship-wise. Although that would be ideal, as well…"

"Yang?"

She immediately stopped talking when she heard her name, realizing in horror that she had been rambling, big time.

"I'd love to go get dinner with you tonight."

Her heart soared at the words. Yes! She had said yes!

"Really?" she exclaimed, not able to conceal a fraction of the excitement in her voice. "That's great! I mean, I'm glad that you want to go. The restaurant is called Octavio's, have you heard of it? Would you like to go at 7:30?"

"I am familiar with Octavio's," Blake replied with another small chuckle. "I love Italian and will meet you there at 7:30."

"Awesome possum! 7:30. I'll see you then!"

She ended the call and carefully placed her phone down on the table. Her heart was still pounding as she thought about every word of the conversation that had just occurred. Glancing over to Pyrrha, she found her friend staring at her as if she had just grown a second head.

"Wow."

"Shut up," Yang replied as she playfully threw her napkin across the table before burying her face in her hands in utter humiliation.

"What the hell did I just say?"

"Well…you said a lot of things…and very _very_ quickly," Pyrrha offered helpfully. "I'm honestly surprised she managed to get a word in at all."

"I just got so nervous! I couldn't stop the words spewing out of my mouth. It wasn't that bad though, right?"

She looked back to Pyrrha, hoping to have her fears assuaged.

Pyrrha coughed instead, picking up her drink and carefully avoiding Yang's gaze.

"No, no…it was quite awesome...possum."

Yang groaned. She wasn't usually such a failure at speaking to girls. In fact, she would like to think that she was actually somewhat of a charmer. But this girl had her tripping all over herself…she had never used the phrase 'awesome possum' in her entire life! So of course today was the _perfect_ time to pick up a new catchphrase.

"She still said yes!" she finally pointed out triumphantly.

As long as she had a date for tonight, she had another chance to prove that she wasn't such an awkward person all the time. But she could already feel the nerves building at the thought of seeing Blake again. And the two of them would have to hold a conversation…for at least an hour or so.

Yang had yet to prove that she could even string two solid sentences together when in the author's presence.

Suddenly, she gasped when a realization occurred to her.

"What should I wear?" she asked in panic as she mentally scrolled through her closet at home. Should she go casual? Dressy? Dressy casual? Chic? Casual chic? God…the possibilities were nearly endless.

Pyrrha smirked as she flagged down their waitress for the check.

"Isn't there a rule for that?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Promised longer chapters! I am at PAX South but still diligently uploading my chapter (aren't you guys lucky?).**

**More bees for everyone! Tomorrow I'm actually going to post a little flashback scene that is introduced briefly in this chapter and I wrote the scene out :)**

* * *

><p>She ended up forcing Pyrrha to go shopping with her after they had finished their lunch. They had had a great time, which was no surprise since they always did, and Yang managed to piece together the perfect outfit for the evening – or at least, one that she felt somewhat confident in wearing.<p>

She had paired a collared, light grey half-sleeve blouse with a tan blazer - a cute, thin brown belt wrapped around her midriff - black pants were accompanied with tan flats. She had rolled up the sleeves on the blazer to give off more of a casual vibe.

It was dressy, yet casual.

Being somewhat apprehensive, she had ended up getting to the restaurant more than a little early, even though she had decided to walk there from her apartment instead of drive.

She hated driving in downtown Vale. The traffic was bad no matter what time of day it was, and there was never any place to park. Sure, she could valet her car…but she could make it all the way home in the time it took them to fetch it for her after the meal.

The staff at Octavio's all knew her; she went there often for dates or meals with friends. There was even a special table where they always seated her. In the back of the restaurant, it was shielded from too many prying eyes by some cleverly placed foliage. Quiet and secluded, it was the perfect place to have a first date.

She had ordered a glass of water while she waited for Blake to arrive, but had already drained the entire first glass. It wasn't like her to be so nervous, but she really didn't know what to expect once Blake did show up. If she did.

Oh god, what if she got stood up?

Her fears were instantly alleviated when the host came around the corner with Blake in tow. Yang's heart started pounding as soon as the author's eyes met hers once again, a smile tugging at the girl's lips. Yang couldn't help beaming in response, drinking in Blake's appearance as if she had spent a year in the desert and the raven haired girl was a tall glass of water.

Blake was wearing a gorgeous navy blue, low cut, long sleeve shirt with a pair of form-fitting black jeans and wedges. Her long black tresses hung loosely down her back, ever so slightly waving as she walked. She looked casual, comfortable, and…perfect.

Yang stood up as the host led Blake over to their table and set menus down for both of them. Bidding them a happy meal, he left the two of them alone together.

"Uh…hi!" she said, extending a hand towards her date. "It's great to see you again!"

Blake looked at her hand quizzically, but gently shook it regardless before she sat down at their table.

"It's great to see you again too."

Yang mentally kicked herself for making such an amateur move. A handshake? Really, Yang? The _proper_ way to great such a fine lady was with a hug, or a kiss on the cheek. But a handshake? What better way to say 'let's just be friends' than a handshake…

"So…uh...how did the rest of your book signing go?" Yang asked in an attempt to recover, watching Blake casually pick up the menu in front of her.

"It went well…everyone seemed to ask a whole lot of questions about you though."

"Oh…"

Well great, now she felt terrible for stealing the girl's thunder at her own book signing.

"Oh, don't worry!" Blake replied hastily, probably noticing how distressed Yang seemed to be. "It was actually quite interesting. I made a small game out of it even."

That comment piqued Yang's attention - she liked games.

"Game? What kind of game?"

"Well," Blake began as she laid the menu down in front of her, looking pensive. "Whenever someone asked about you, I would ask them what character in any of my books they thought you should play in a movie. I kept track of all the answers - would you like to see them?"

Yang nodded her head vigorously. Hell yeah she wanted to see them!

Blake giggled at her enthusiastic response as she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her wallet and slid it across the table to her. Yang quickly took it and unfolded it, pressing it flat against the table and seeing character names with tallies marked beside them. The author had already counted the final tally up and written ranks next to each of the names, so Yang started with the most popular choice.

"Saranna?" The name was the most popular, by far, and had been circled on the page, but Yang didn't even know who the character was.

Suddenly seeming rather embarrassed, Blake picked up her menu once more with a slight cough.

"Yes…Saranna was the most common answer," she remarked, clearly dodging the obvious question Yang wanted to ask.

Yang allowed a few seconds of silence to pass before deciding that she would have to actually ask her question out loud.

"So…what book is she in? What's her story?"

"Well...she's the main character in _Sunflower_. It's just a simple love story…but did you see who the second most common answer was?"

Directing her eyes back down towards the paper, Yang saw the number two circled beside a familiar name.

"Jade! Wow that's pretty awesome, since I could actually get to play her!" Yang remarked happily. "Although…you know…I don't know how I really feel about the green hair…"

She ran a hand through her own golden locks as she said this. She really loved her hair…she knew that it would only be a wig, but she didn't think that she would even _look_ good with green hair!

A laugh drew her out of her thoughts and back to the table, smiling when she saw Blake giggling at her. The sight was so adorable.

"You would look great with _no_ hair, Yang," the girl replied casually, but the words had an unintended effect of making Yang blush like a tomato.

Blake thought that she looked great? Why was that so much more of a compliment than the thousands of times she heard it from strangers every day?

She coughed, not sure what to say in response. She would _like_ to say how Blake was the most beautiful person she had ever seen and made Yang look like a piece of tree bark in comparison..but was positive that she would die of embarrassment before she managed to get all of the words out of her mouth.

"Um…so third is…Fiona. Oh I know this one too! She's that kickass martial artist," Yang nodded her head in approval. She would definitely love to play that role.

"And the last one…suggested all of one time…is Alex. What book is she from?"

Blake tried to keep a straight face as she answered, failing miserably when she broke into laughter.

"_He_ is in _Dog Days_," she managed to get out between her laughs while Yang felt her jaw go slack in shock.

"_HE?_ Who thought that I should play a man?"

She was aghast. She prided herself on being a very feminine person, so why would someone want to cast her as a male? It was hard to imagine her pulling off a masculine appearance with all of her...curves. And again, her hair!

"They didn't mean it as an insult," Blake responded reassuringly. "They thought that your personality would match up closely to his."

"Oh…"

Well maybe that made her feel a little bit better.

"Why is that though? Is he as devilishly charming as I am?" she asked, shooting Blake a wink which the girl easily deflected with a small smile.

No blush? Seriously? Yang had apparently lost all of her superpowers today...

"He's arrogant, competitive, egocentric, a tad chauvinistic…"

"Oh gee, he sounds like a wonderful person to be compared to," Yang cut in.

"He's _also_ loyal, brave, witty, and handsome, among other things," Blake finished.

"Handsome?" Yang caught onto that one word. "I can live with handsome."

Blake shook her head, but still smiled.

Just then, their waiter appeared to take their orders.

"Good evening. Would you both like your usual tonight, or would you like to order something else?" he asked politely while looking down at the both of them.

"The usual is fine, Antonio. Thank you," Blake responded nonchalantly while handing her menu to him.

"Yeah…same here. Thank you, Antonio…" Yang said, staring across the table in surprise as she too handed her menu over.

"Uh…so you come here often?"

"I do…I usually sit at the counter and work on a story. I didn't even know this table was back here though, so you must come here much more often than I."

"Oh yeah, I come here all the time with my friends and on da…"

Her eyes opened wide in horror when she realized what had almost just slipped out of her mouth. And from the way Blake was now laughing, Yang was guessing that she had caught on to what Yang had been about to say.

"So I'm not the first person you've brought here?" the raven haired girl replied, holding one hand over her heart in fake hurt. "How _could_ you, Yang?"

"Well…I mean…uh…" Yang sputtered, at an utter loss for words, before putting her head down on the table in defeat.

"Do you know any good doctors, Blake? Because I'm going to need a _great_ one to have my foot removed from my mouth."

More giggles came from across the table, causing Yang to look up just in time to see a happy smile picking up the corners of Blake's mouth. Yes, the embarrassment was totally worth it.

"I actually _do_ know a great doctor," Blake finally replied through her laughter. "But I don't think even she would be able to help you."

Yang shrugged her shoulders and gave a little laugh herself.

"That's ok. I have an abnormally large mouth, so it's used to having large things shoved in it by now."

She couldn't help making the obvious innuendo and threw a wink towards Blake to make sure the girl knew she was joking. But what she hadn't expected was the reaction.

Was that a _flush_ on her date's face? And Blake was now avoiding eye contact, directing her eyes towards the bar while she chuckled nervously. Yang felt like jumping out of her seat in triumph.

She had finally found one of Blake's weaknesses! Thank god. She had been beginning to think that the author had an impenetrably cool aura that was completely unshakable. But there was something that embarrassed even her!

Yang was going to remember to make use of that little tidbit of information in the future, but for right now she needed to save her date from anymore embarrassment.

"Ok, ok, I'll be the hero and bail you out…" she stated jokingly.

Blake's eyes flashed back to her with a smirk reappearing - halting the rest of Yang's words instantaneously.

"Oh _now_ you'll be the hero? What happened to the girl cowering in the bathroom this afternoon?"

Yang couldn't help herself from bursting into laughter. _Wow, that flipped fast_, she thought as she felt her own cheeks heat up from having embarrassment swung back at her so quickly.

"Touché, touché."

Raising her hands to admit defeat, Blake's eyes softened, with playfulness being replaced by curiosity.

"Who were you running from, anyway?"

"Uh…" Yang stalled while she tried to decide if she should try to dodge the question or answer honestly. "Would you believe…Big Foot?"

The girl shook her head, adding, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to…"

Dodge unsuccessful.

Yang sighed. She didn't want it to seem like she was trying to hide anything - that wouldn't exactly be the best way to start things off. Although…telling the truth certainly wouldn't help her either…

"I was running from…you probably know of her, actually…but it was Cinder. Cinder Fall?"

Blake was already nodding her head in acknowledgment.

"So basically, you were running from your ex?"

A shovel would probably be needed to scrape her jaw off the table as she stared at the girl in shock. How had she known?

"How disconnected from society do you think I am?" Blake asked incredulously at her expression. "I'm an author, not a hermit."

Yang shook her head in an attempt to throw off some of her surprise.

"I…uh, I don't know! I mean…I just always figured that writer's spent all their time inside. You know…writing?"

"I do spent a lot of time inside writing, but that doesn't mean I don't go on the internet occasionally. Besides, if I shut myself off from the world, how would I come up with ideas for new stories?"

"Well I thought you read other books for that!"

"Oh, so you mean you thought I just plagiarized my stories?" Blake asked calmly, causing Yang's eyes to widen in horror.

_Oh great, now you've insulted her. Way to go, Yang. Way to go…_

"N-no! Of course not! I just thought that you…that maybe you…uh…" Yang stumbled around her brain, trying desperately to think of a good way to recover.

Blake only chuckled at her increasingly failing explanation, eyes sparkling with unconcealed pleasure.

"It's ok, I know what you meant," she finally said, ending Yang's futile struggle. "I am curious why you would run from your exes though. Couldn't you just…be civil?"

"You would think!" Yang exclaimed, happy to be on any topic but the one where she accused Blake of plagiarism. Although, Cinder wasn't a much better topic…

"But she's _completely_ insane. Like…off the walls, strap her in a strait jacket and throw away the key, _psycho_."

Blake laughed at her description.

"I'm sure most people would describe their exes that way."

"No! I'm being so serious!" Yang stressed, trying to remove the look of disbelief from Blake's face. "Ok, ok, here's one example of _pure crazy_."

In the back of her mind, she thought that there must be some sort of rule about talking about her ex on the first date - but she had already broken so many rules…what was one more?

"This one time, she tried to _light me on fire_."

Blake's eyes widened in surprise for a few seconds, before she broke into a nearly uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"I'm not lying!" Yang said dejectedly while watching the girl continue to laugh.

"Oh no," Blake raised one hand while trying to calm down. "I believe you. I've always thought she seemed a bit off. But I was just imagining her…trying to…l-light you with a t-tiny little m-match!"

The girl dissolved into giggles again, this time with Yang joining her. Yeah, it did sound a little funny when you pictured it like that.

"S-so," Blake continued when her laughter began to subside. "Didn't you get the feeling that she was crazy _before_ you started dating? Or was it a sudden onset thing?"

Yang sighed.

"I'd always thought she was a little...erratic. But it was one of those things where we spent so much time together on set, and then even the media thought we should get together…so, we just kinda did. BIG mistake."

"And now you have to run from her when you bump into each other on the street," Blake commented forlornly, shaking her head in what appeared to be mock pity.

"Yeah…well it's not something I'm _proud_ of, but it certainly paid dividends this time!" Yang said with a bright smile. What she would have liked to say was, 'I'm glad I did, because I ran right into you,' but that might be a little too heavy for this evening.

But Blake smiled back at her and when their eyes met, Yang could swear that her date might have been thinking the same thing.

At that moment, Antonio returned with their plates heaped with steaming food in his hands, setting down Blake's and then placing another one in front of Yang.

"The seafood linguine," he commented as he placed Blake's plate down.

"And…the eggplant lasagna. Enjoy ladies."

Yang licked her lips as she looked at the steaming slice of lasagna staring up at her. A thing of absolute beauty…

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen someone look at something so eagerly before."

Yang tore her eyes away from her food, looking up to find Blake smirking as she gracefully unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap.

"You don't need to be jealous; I can look at you the same way if you'd like me to," she replied flippantly as she unfolded her own silverware, thoroughly enjoying the blush that lit up Blake's face.

"So…how did you get into acting?" Blake asked, pointedly changing the subject. Yang happily made a mental note that the girl didn't turn down her offer before answering her question.

"Oh I just stumbled into it, really. I was looking for jobs after college and went on an interview in a huge office building. The interview didn't go that great, but on the way out I saw a sign for an audition looking for a 'young blonde girl.' Since I was already there, I decided to do the reading anyway and surprise! I got the part. I've been acting ever since."

"And you became a pretty good actress, at that," Blake added with a smile.

Yang felt her cheeks warm at the compliment. It wasn't often that someone actually praised her acting ability. They mostly just made comments about how attractive she was.

"How about you? How did you get into writing?" she asked quickly, trying to direct attention away from herself.

"Well…I've known that I wanted to be a writer ever since I was a little girl. I read a lot…and started to write my own stories when I was still a teenager. I went to college for writing, and sent my first completed book to a publisher right after graduation."

Yang couldn't help smiling when she thought about little Blake with her nose always stuck in a book. It was certainly a fitting image.

"Where did you go to school?" Yang asked curiously as she began cutting her food into smaller pieces, trying to let it cool down. If she tried to eat it now, she would surely make a fool out of herself.

"Beacon University."

Yang's mouth dropped open at the answer.

"No way! Me too!" she exclaimed, causing Blake's eyes to widen in disbelief.

"Really?"

"Yes, really! What, you thought that I was too dumb to get into a school like Beacon?"

"Well…no…I didn't…I'm just surprised I never saw you around campus, is all," Blake fumbled through her answer, clearly afraid of having accidentally called Yang stupid.

But she had learned by now not to be insulted when people were surprised that she actually had a brain. When you worked in the industry she was in, appearances were much more highly rewarded than intelligence. She had worked with enough dingbats to know that they gave a bad reputation to them all.

"I'm guessing that you were in the Marks Residences then," Yang squinted her eyes thoughtfully while she made her guess. That had been where all of the…more studious...students had lived. It was also on the opposite side of campus, so Yang hadn't made it over there too often.

Nodding her head, Blake said, "And you must have been in…Webb Hall?"

Yang grinned, nodding her head in confirmation.

"Yup! Biggest party dorm on campus!" she remarked proudly, causing Blake to roll her eyes with a smile.

"Oh come on, you can't tell me that you never came over for a party," Yang prodded the girl jokingly.

"I did a couple of times…I remember a foam party one year in particular…"

"The foam party! Which year did you go? It doesn't matter, they were all great!" Yang remarked ecstatically, before a thought suddenly brought her to a screeching halt.

"Wait…I know for a fact that I went to _all_ of the foam parties…I made sure not to miss any of them."

"So…we were actually at the same party one year?" Blake asked while Yang nodded her head slowly.

"And never bumped into each other? Well…it would have been hard to see anyway with all that foam…but still! That's a little depressing actually…" Yang replied honestly as she thought about what might have happened if she had actually struck up a conversation with college Blake.

Would they have gotten along? Would they have immediately hated each other? Yang knew that she had been much more…carefree…in college. She could only imagine that she would have come off as wild and uncontrollable to Blake.

"Well…we've met now, so that's good, right?" Blake suggested tentatively, which immediately perked her up.

Blake was right. Missed opportunities didn't matter now.

While they ate their meal, they continued talking about many different topics. College, friends, work, hobbies…hardly any stone was left unturned. The more Yang learned about Blake, the more she found herself liking the girl. She was sharp, quick witted, kind, with a deep rooted sense of humor that came out every so often, especially to poke fun at Yang.

Thankfully, the more time they spent together, the less nervous Yang felt being around her. She was still nervous, definitely, but she felt slightly more capable of forming complete and coherent sentences every once in a while.

After some time, Antonio came back to their table, capturing Yang's attention.

"Excuse me, ladies," he began politely. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but the restaurant is actually going to be closing in just a few moments. Would you like anything else before then?"

Yang looked at Blake in shock before turning back to their waiter.

"I'm really sorry, Antonio! I think we're done, thank you."

Antonio nodded once before he turned and walked back towards the kitchen.

"Wow, it is late," Blake commented after looking at her phone for the time.

"Yeah, I didn't even realize that they would be closing!" Yang replied as she stood up from the table, stretching slightly as her body protested having been seated for such a long time.

Blake followed her as they walked out of the nearly deserted restaurant.

"Uh…shouldn't we get the check?" Blake asked quietly as Yang continued towards the front door.

"I already paid!"

She smiled at the girl's confusion. She had given her credit card to the host when she had gotten to the restaurant, wanting to avoid any argument over who would pay for the meal.

"Oh, well thank you for the lovely dinner," Blake answered as she stepped through the door Yang was holding for her and into the cool night air.

"You're very welcome," Yang replied. "Thank you for agreeing to come to dinner, in the first place!"

A couple of seconds passed while they looked at each other, each unsure about what to do next.

"Uh…can I walk you home?" Yang finally asked nervously. She didn't want their night to end just yet - to her, it still felt as if it had only just begun.

And from what Blake had told her, she didn't live that far away from Octavio's. In fact, they had both been surprised to find that they had been living only a twenty minute walk away from each other for the past year or so.

"Sure." Blake smiled as she turned in the direction of her apartment and began walking. Yang moved to follow, but froze when she saw the girl walk slightly away from her.

Under the street lights, Blake looked even more elegant and mysterious than she had earlier that day. It was as if the darkness embraced the girl, their two essences merged as one entity underneath the stars above.

Blake suddenly turned her head to look over her shoulder, amber eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Are you coming?" she asked, a whimsical smile playing at her lips when she caught Yang staring at her.

Yang blinked as she was pulled from her temporary trance. Blushing, she jogged the several steps until she was standing shoulder to shoulder with Blake. Once there, the two of them continued walking, quickly falling into a comfortable rhythm beside each other. They picked up where they had left off their conversation back at the restaurant - as if there had never been a break in their words.

It was so easy to talk to Blake; something about it put Yang's mind at ease in a way she had never felt before. It was as if the two of them had been destined to meet each other...fated, even.

Regrettably, the ten minute walk was over with in no time and Yang found herself looking at the tall apartment building Blake had just pointed out to her.

It was funny that she had driven by this building hundreds of times before, yet couldn't remember ever thinking anything about it other than 'that place looks nice.' It was large, typical for this area of Vale, nearing twenty or so stories tall and set back from the road enough to accommodate a semi-circular drive pulling up to the front lobby. It was modern, well-kept, and almost looked like a remodeled hotel rather than an apartment building.

Maybe it was just Yang's wishful thinking, but she thought she could feel their pace slowing as they followed the sidewalk towards the front doors.

Unfortunately, they eventually reached the doors and their inevitable place to say their goodbyes.

Even more unfortunately, Yang could not think of the appropriate words to say in this situation, leading to an awkward silence as the two of them stood facing each other. She scuffed her right foot against the concrete instead.

She didn't want this night to end. She would be ok if they just kept talking for hours and hours more.

"Uh…so…I had a really great time tonight," she finally managed to say.

"I did too," Blake responded. The words brought a smile back to Yang's face. She knew that _she_ had had a good time, but hadn't wanted to presume that Blake felt the same way. Hearing the admission gave Yang a small boost of confidence as a question began formulating in her mind.

Maybe she shouldn't be asking it right now. She should probably at least wait a day or two so that she didn't look so needy. That's what the rules would suggest, anyway.

"When can I see you again?"

Butttt…of course Yang had already broken every rule imaginable so far today, so she might as well just toss out the entire rule book at this point, because she really couldn't seem to help herself. She felt as if she were caught in the gravitational pull of the sun, unable to escape, only being dragged closer and closer. Her body felt like it was on fire, but not in a painful way at all - in a comforting way, as if Blake's mere presence were stirring something deep within her.

And when Blake smiled in response to her question, Yang decided that it wasn't a bad thing at all. She wouldn't struggle against this attraction, she wouldn't fight it.

She would burn up in those eyes, if that's what this was leading her towards.

"I'm free for most of the days this week before I have to head out of town," Blake replied, oblivious to the effect she was having on Yang.

Yang felt her heart lift at the girl's words.

"So…tomorrow?" she immediately asked, mentally hoping that it came out fractionally less desperate than it sounded in her head.

But Blake nodded, completely unfazed at being asked out again on such short notice.

"I have to have dinner with my publisher, but I'm free in the afternoon."

"Perfect! I'll come pick you up at 2!" Yang said, earning herself a quirked eyebrow from the dark haired girl.

"Am I allowed to ask where we will be going?" Blake asked curiously.

"Uh…"

She hadn't actually thought of a place to go or something to do. She had just wanted to see the girl again as soon as possible, but now she realized that she would actually have to come up with an idea as to where to go.

"It will be a surprise! Just dress for being outside," she finished lamely. Blake grinned at her, probably knowing that Yang was bluffing at having any sort of plan formulated.

"Ok, 2 o'clock. I'll see you then," Blake replied, smiling one last time before she turned to open the lobby door.

"Have a great night," the author finished as she turned back to Yang one last time, amber eyes freezing Yang in place once again.

"Y-you too!" Yang sputtered as Blake disappeared into the building and the door swung shut behind her.

After spending several seconds feeling elated that she had managed to secure herself another date, she realized that she needed to get home and figure out what they were actually going to be doing. And she had restricted them to doing something outdoors. She didn't even know what the weather was supposed to be like tomorrow!

She turned away from the building and hurried down the sidewalk on her way home. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly dialed Pyrrha, whose number she had memorized long ago.

_Ring._

"How'd it go?" Pyrrha's voice came out of the phone after the first ring, foregoing the customary 'hello.' The unusual answer made Yang smirk. Pyrrha had probably been waiting by the phone all night for her call.

"Really, really great," she answered honestly as her thoughts drifted back to the evening she had just experienced. She sighed in satisfaction.

"I think I'm in big trouble, Pyrrha."


	5. Ch 5 - Flashback

**Before you get confused, this is a FLASHBACK! The scenario was mentioned in the previous chapter and I just felt the need to write more about it. So...flashback! **

**(But I hope everyone still enjoys it! I think it lends some interesting history to our two lovebirds.)**

* * *

><p>The sound of thudding party music and masses of voices grew louder as they walked down the sidewalk and closer to their destination. They passed several sprawling mansions in the dark, each with giant Greek letters adhering to the front walls, before stopping in front of the source of all the commotion.<p>

The single story mansion had a large front lawn occupied by at least two dozen people who were covered in tufts of white foam. The roof of the building was flat, which seemed out of place when compared to the towering Victorian style home next door, but the flat surface served as yet more space for partygoers to occupy. A railing wrapping around the edge thankfully acted as a deterrent to anyone slipping and falling off of the roof, as there was nearly a foot of white foam covering the mansion like a layer of snow. Darkness and crammed in bodies could be seen directly inside the open front door.

Blake sighed as the loud music and overwhelming stench of spilled alcohol assaulted her senses.

"Remind me why we're here again?" she asked for the tenth time.

"Because we're almost done with college and have earned the right to have fun!" Penny remarked in her usual upbeat voice, although Blake could tell that her orange haired friend was apprehensive.

Blake nodded her head slowly.

The premise of the…gathering…did seem intriguing - it was just the actual attendees that bothered her. But, she had promised to go with Penny since her friend had been reluctant to go alone.

Penny would just owe her one later.

"Alright, let's go then," she said as she strode forward, brushing past a few groups of people standing on the sidewalk while she approached the front door.

Slipping inside, she gave her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the low/nonexistent lighting.

The inside of the house was packed with people laughing, talking, or dancing. Red plastic cups and aluminum cans were occupying the hands of almost everyone there, but the most noticeable thing was the several feet of white foam covering the entire floor. It was sticking to the walls and the partiers. People were throwing handfuls of the fluffy substance everywhere as a machine in the corner of the giant living room continued to spew more foam to replace whatever might be lost under trampled feet.

She was really thankful that Penny had advised her to wear shoes and clothing she didn't care about getting soaked in. Her flip flops, tank top, and shorts certainly hadn't seemed like appropriate party attire, but she actually blended in quite well. Other students were either wearing similar clothing or were wearing bathing suits - some complete with pool floats.

As she stepped forward into the mound of foam, she could see why. The material was light, but also had a damp quality to it that left her clothing already feeling quite moist.

"So…what now?" Penny yelled above the music from beside her, eyes glistening with excitement as she took in the level of foam around her.

Blake couldn't help laughing at how happy Penny looked. She reached down and scooped up a huge handful of foam and dropped it directly on the top of Penny's head.

"I guess we do whatever we want!" she shouted in response, failing to dodge Penny's retaliation as the girl tossed a fistful of foam towards her face.

Penny giggled while Blake wiped the material from her nose, trying not to get any in her mouth. The two of them played in the foam for several more moments until both of them were covered from head to toe. They explored the house afterward, being jostled more than a few times by the inebriated students roaming around.

Two aluminum cans were shoved into their hands by a shirtless boy who was wearing what appeared to be a pillowcase over his head. He gave them a wink before he continued through the room, handing cans to anyone who was empty handed.

Penny opened hers and took a drink, scrunching her nose in disgust at the taste as Blake followed suit.

"Bleh…they really bought the good stuff, didn't they?" Blake said as she choked down the foul fluid. Definitely not something she wanted to drink again.

But Penny just shrugged and took another sip, managing to make a slightly less disgusted face this time.

"I can get you the good stuff if you'd like."

Both of them turned to find a tall boy speaking to them. The cocky smirk on his face instantly rubbed Blake the wrong way. Crew cut brown hair, tank top, swim trunks, overly exercised biceps with an ego the size of a blimp…he was exactly the type of guy Blake had been actively trying to avoid the last several years.

"We're good, thank you," Blake replied as politely as possible, turning back to Penny only to find that her friend had abandoned her. She spotted the girl across the room speaking animatedly to someone she must know, leaving Blake to fend for herself with crew cut boy.

"I haven't seen you at any of our parties before. Do you go to school here?" he asked, flashing a charming smile her way.

"Yes, I do," she answered curtly, not willing to offer anymore information to him than necessary.

"Huh…you must have just transferred in, because I know I would have noticed someone as beautiful as you walking around campus."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

How many other girls had he used that exact same line on?

"You must have pretty poor eyesight then."

The comment made him laugh. Not altogether a horrible sound…

"That may be, but I am definitely seeing clearly now." He leaned forward as he spoke, giving Blake a great whiff of the alcohol on his breath.

She cringed and didn't respond, wondering if it would be acceptable for her to just walk away - she didn't really see him getting the picture otherwise.

After a few seconds of silence, he decided to try again.

"I'm Cardin, by the way. Cardin _Winchester_."

He said his last name as if she should recognize it, sticking out his hand proudly to shake hers.

She shook his hand, humoring his final attempt to impress her. She had heard of the Winchesters. They had built a legitimate real estate empire in the city - but why she would be impressed for something his parents had accomplished, she had no idea. The fact that he had money meant nothing to her.

"It's nice to meet you, Cardin _Winchester_," she replied with the same emphasis on his last name. "I need to get back to my friend now, so maybe we'll talk later."

_Or never_, she thought as she pointed in the direction she had last seen Penny and she slipped away from the dumbstruck boy. She was pretty sure that very few girls resisted that second line of his, if any.

Of course, Penny was now nowhere to be seen, but at least she had escaped crew cut boy.

After searching for a few more seconds, she gave up. It was nearly impossible to see people inside, especially when they were all covered in gobs of white foam. Penny had her phone with her; she would call Blake when she was ready to leave.

Feeling like she needed to get some air, she made her way out the back door of the building and found herself in a backyard patio area.

There was a pool taking up a majority of the space, with small clumps of foam floating on the surface of the water. People on the roof above her were walking around and talking, happily throwing foam onto the people below.

Blake walked slowing around the very edge of the pool, still searching to see if Penny was outside somewhere. Not seeing her, Blake turned her attention towards the rooftop.

She still didn't find Penny, but a small commotion near the entrance to the rooftop did catch her attention.

A large crowd of students had just appeared on top of the mansion, hooting and hollering in drunken excitement while they made their way towards the railing. Another crowd came outside downstairs, gathering around the sides of the pool while looking up towards the roof.

Blake stood her ground by the pool and watched curiously as a girl stepped up to the railing, causing everyone to cheer.

The girl was _gorgeous_. Blonde hair, super good shape, with a smile radiant enough to win even Blake over. She had an aura surrounding her that seemed to capture everyone's attention - drawing all eyes in her direction. And when the blonde raised both hands over her head, cheers and whistles sounded from everyone watching.

Blake felt her brow crease in concern.

This girl wasn't about to do what Blake thought she was…was she?

"Wow, she's pretty!"

She jumped at the sound of Penny's voice, not having noticed her friend reappearing by her side while her eyes had been trained on the blonde.

"Yeah, pretty stupid," Blake responded cheekily as the crowds began to chant.

"Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!"

Her concern rose exponentially when the blonde took a few steps backwards in order to give herself a running start. Blake realized that the girl would actually need to somehow clear the railing while maintaining momentum, or she was never going to make it to the water - the pool was too far from the house.

_Someone has got to stop her_, Blake thought in panic while everyone else looked on in anticipation of watching this girl likely kill herself. She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but the blonde was already racing across the rooftop.

She could only watch in riveted horror as the girl approached the railing, only to have her eyes widen in surprise when the girl leapt gracefully, planting one foot firmly on the top of the railing and propelling herself off of the rooftop. After sailing through the air for a half second, she hit the water in a perfect dive, hardly making a splash.

Everyone erupted in cheers while the girl swam towards the edge of the pool. Blake was forced to take a small step backwards when the girl pulled herself out of the water directly in front of her.

Water dripped from her soaked clothing as she flipped her mess of wet blonde hair out of her face. When the two of them briefly locked eyes, Blake was surprised to find herself falling into seas of lilac - deep and sharp, unlike the glassy appearances of the people surrounding them. It took less than an instant for an easy smile to appear on the blonde's face.

"Hi," the girl directed warmly at her, smile widening.

"Hello," Blake replied instinctually, surprised that the girl had actually spoken to her. She could feel her cheeks warming from the way the girl was looking at her, lilac eyes filled with an avid curiosity that was completely disarming.

But the spell was broken a second later. The two of them were swept apart as other students clamored to speak to the girl, congratulating her and asking if she'd do it again, this time for a video.

Blake turned back to Penny, realizing that her heart had been beating incredibly quickly - probably from fear of watching someone seriously injure themselves right in front of her.

"Well, thanks for abandoning me earlier with that creep!" Blake said as she playfully knocked Penny in the shoulder with the back of her hand.

"I'm really sorry! I saw one of my closest friends and just had to say hello before she leaves for the summer," Penny said remorsefully before lighting up again.

"Oh, but I need to introduce you to her! She said she was leaving but maybe she's still here! I think that the two of you would be great friends - and then we could all be great friends together!"

Penny grabbed Blake's hand and pulled her back inside the house while Blake rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Do we get to go home afterward?" she asked facetiously, making Penny to giggle while they waded back into the foam in search of this mysterious person.

"Come on, Blake! This night is going to be spectacular!"

Blake laughed at Penny's zeal, which had ceased to fade over the time they had been in school together.

But Penny was right - school was nearly over and soon they would be forced out into the world on their own. And maybe she wasn't ready to jump off of rooftops into swimming pools...but it was past time for her to start having a little more fun.


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter somehow ended up being really long...I hope no one minds.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! I love hearing from you!**

* * *

><p>The morning after her dinner with Yang, Blake felt very much…unlike her usual self. She was distracted, unfocused, easily sidetracked…and finding it extremely difficult to plan out her day without her thoughts drifting back to the bubbly blonde she had spent the prior evening with.<p>

Blake had expected the actress to be nice and amiable, but…maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed. She had been more than pleasantly surprised to have her expectations completely blown out of the water.

Yang had proven herself to be incredibly smart, funny, charming, and genuine. The conversations they had had were thought-provoking and extremely articulate. It had only taken Blake a few minutes to decide that she was thoroughly going to enjoy their evening together.

She had also quickly learned that Yang had an uncanny ability to make an absolute fool of herself. She couldn't even begin to count the number of times Yang had stuck her foot in her mouth last night, but the blonde had never seemed to be discouraged by it. In fact, it almost seemed like the more Blake laughed at her missteps, the more they occurred.

She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much in one evening and seriously doubted that she had ever laughed that much in her life.

The night had flown by. And she couldn't begin to express how delighted she was that Yang had asked her out again as they stood outside her apartment building. She had hesitated before going inside solely for that reason, but she couldn't find the courage herself to ask the blonde out for a second date.

Now, she just needed to get through the morning, but she was already counting down the hours and minutes until their paths would cross again.

* * *

><p>Blake was waiting impatiently in her apartment long before Yang was supposed to arrive to pick her up. She fidgeted with her clothing – she had already changed her outfit three times trying to find the perfect clothes to wear and she refused to change again.<p>

Yang hadn't told her where they would be going, only that they would be outside so to dress for whatever the weather was like. Since it was sunny and warm, but not too hot, Blake had finally settled upon some jeans and a nice purple V-neck. She could only hope that this would be appropriate for wherever they were going, and that Yang wouldn't completely outdress her.

At least they were lucky that the weather had turned out to be beautiful.

The last few minutes ticked by excruciatingly slowly, while Blake literally sat in her kitchen and watched the clock on the microwave click forward one more minute to 2:00 p.m. on the dot.

The buzzer rang and Blake jumped in shock. Her heart now racing, she walked quickly to the front door and tapped the call button.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Miss Belladonna. There's a Yang Xiao Long here to see you."

Blake smiled - she was right on time.

"Ok, tell her I'll be right down. Thank you, Charlie."

Releasing the button, Blake rushed back to the kitchen to grab her wallet, taking several seconds to make sure she had everything she would need. Satisfied, she walked back to the entryway, pausing for a second to check her reflection one last time.

She could feel nerves and excitement building as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby.

Yang Xiao Long, huh. World famous actress and…her date.

The ride down was far too short. Before she knew it, the soft 'ding' sounded as the elevator doors slid open, revealing the lobby beyond.

Yang, who had been chatting amicably with the lobby security guard (a friendly man named Charlie), immediately stopped talking as she turned in Blake's direction. The instant Blake stepped out of the elevator, the blonde's face lit up with a huge smile.

And that was all it took for the nerves in Blake's stomach to morph into full grown butterflies, fluttering around in her rib cage as if searching for any means of an exit.

There was something about Yang's smile that was utterly disarming. Blake always seemed to instinctually smile in return, as if compelled to respond to the girl's radiance from some desire deep within her - some secret part of her that was telling her what to do, how to act. It was frightening, alarming, but exhilarating and intoxicating all at the same time.

"Hello," Yang greeted her cheerfully while Blake's feet guided her towards the actress as if she were a moth and Yang the flame.

Her voice was like honey, soothing Blake's mind and soul.

"Hello," she replied calmly as she came to a stop directly in front of the girl. Thankfully, her voice didn't betray any of the tumultuous emotions she was feeling inside.

"You look…beautiful," Yang remarked, causing Blake to blush and mumble a quiet "thank you" in return. She hadn't expected to be receiving compliments so soon, especially when Yang looked easily ten times more beautiful than she did in her jeans and yellow fitted shirt.

"Ready to go?"

When Blake nodded, Yang smiled again and held out an elbow for Blake to hold onto, which she did even though she could feel her blush increasing in magnitude. The doorman held the door open for both of them to step outside into the early afternoon sun.

Maybe she should have been surprised by the car waiting outside the front doors, but, sadly, she really was not.

A sleek, black and yellow sports car was parked right in front of the doors, gullwing doors open and awaiting the return of its owner. The vehicle probably cost more than most homes and was as flashy and noticeable as Yang herself. Blake had to remind herself that it was pretty typical of a movie star to drive around in such an extravagant car, not matter how impractical it was.

"Nice car, huh?"

Blake couldn't help giving a slight roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, it is…"

_Anything_ you spent that much money on had better be nice, she wanted to say - but kept her mouth shut, not wanting to insult her date. She sincerely hoped that Yang didn't think that a gaudy car would impress her though. If anything, it did the exact opposite.

With a gentle tug on her elbow Yang prodded them forward, but towards the car parked _behind_ the sports car.

Blake felt her face catch fire in silent embarrassment when Yang unlocked the silver sedan and courteously opened the passenger door for her. She mumbled her thanks as she got in, resisting the urge to hide her face in her hands in humiliation.

She felt horribly guilty for having assumed that Yang had tried to impress her with an extravagant car when the actress actually drove something quite…practical. Sure, the sedan was luxurious and probably more expensive than most vehicles people could easily afford, but it was not loud or showy at all.

This girl truly was full of surprises. Pleasant ones, at that.

Yang jogged around the car and hopped into the driver's seat, starting the engine and putting the car into drive in one fluid motion.

"Do you know who owns it?" Yang asked while carefully navigating around the sports car.

Blake still couldn't bring herself to form words, merely shaking her head 'no' in response. She didn't know many of the neighbors in her building, so it wasn't really a surprise that she didn't know whose car it was. Although it was interesting that she hadn't seen it parked here before.

"I love the colors," Yang commented as she turned the car onto the street. "Reminds me of a bumblebee."

Blake smiled at the comparison.

"So…are you going to tell me where we're going now?" Blake asked curiously while watching buildings pass by the window.

"That depends…do you want me to ruin the surprise?" Yang glanced at her quickly with that quirky grin on her face.

Blake thought for a few seconds before answering.

"No, I guess not. I really enjoy surprises."

Yang laughed, re-energizing the butterflies in Blake's chest at the whimsical sound.

"Good! Because I love to surprise people. Don't worry, we'll be there in 15-20 minutes."

As they drove through the streets of Vale, Yang asked Blake how her day had been so far. While it hadn't felt like she had done anything that interesting, Yang hung onto every word she said, asking questions, making comments…Blake quickly realized that Yang wasn't just trying to make small talk on their drive - she was actually interested and _listening_ to everything Blake had to say. She soaked in every word like a drop of water hitting desert sand, instantly craving more.

Blake had never been around someone so…attentive. And she couldn't say that she wasn't enjoying it immensely.

Twenty minutes later, Blake finally noticed a street sign that gave her a pretty good idea as to where they were headed. But before saying anything (she didn't want to be wrong), she waited until Yang actually made the turn into the parking lot.

"The zoo?" Blake finally asked while Yang rolled down her window to pay for parking.

"Yup!" the blonde replied happily after receiving their ticket from the speechless clerk manning the booth.

"I…uh…hope this is ok with you?"

The sudden lack of confidence caught Blake off guard, causing her to blink in confusion while Yang found a parking spot and put the car in park.

"I haven't been to the zoo in forever," she responded with a smile, hoping to remove every hint of worry that had crept into Yang's expression. The zoo really did sound like a wonderful idea to her, too.

If it was possible, Blake's smile grew even bigger when Yang beamed back at her - confidence fully restored.

"Alrighty then, let's go!"

As soon as they began walking towards the front entrance of the Vale Zoo, Blake felt her senses begin tingling. She tried to ignore it for a few seconds until she was able to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from.

You know that feeling you get when you sense someone looking at you? Well, it was that, only amplified by…every single person in the vicinity.

Yang drew every single eyeball in her direction, which, in turn, drew them in Blake's direction. It was as if Yang was the world's most powerful magnet, unintentionally pulling everyone's attention towards her.

Blake felt like she was shrinking under the intense attention focused her way. She could see people whispering excitedly out of the corner of her eye and pointing towards them. She could only imagine that they were wondering who the person was that was hanging out with the ever so popular Yang Xiao Long.

Blake was used to receiving _some_ attention like this, but only in certain arenas such as conventions or book signings where her fans would seek her out. When she was away from those events, hardly anyone ever recognized her. It wasn't as if her picture was plastered all over the world like Yang's was - only her biggest fans were likely to recognize her in public.

However, The Dust Chronicles was easily the most popular film series of the past decade - and Yang was the lead. Almost everyone in Vytal had seen the movie at least once, and those who hadn't couldn't have missed the trailers or advertisements.

Her eyes fell to the ground in an effort to block out what was happening around her.

Why hadn't she expected something like this to happen?

They passed through the gates quickly since Yang had purchased their tickets in advance. Blake spared a second to be completely impressed by Yang's preparation for today. The blonde gave off a 'fly by the seat of my pants' impression, but that actually seemed to be far from the truth.

Yang stepped off to the side once inside the front gates, staring down at the paper map that had been handed to her. Blake fidgeted while the blonde intently mapped out their route.

Inside the zoo, it seemed that the stares were even worse. Every person walking in or out noticed them standing there and stopped to gawk for a second or two.

"Blake?"

Blake jumped when she heard her name, turning to find lilac eyes filled with concern trained on her.

"Sorry…what did you say?" she asked, realizing that she must have missed something while she was busy being lost in her thoughts.

"I asked if you wanted to go see the penguins first…"

Blake shifted slightly when she noticed a teenaged girl pointing excitedly towards them.

"But hey…" Yang reached out and touched Blake's arm gently, the contact sending an electric current through her veins that brought her full attention back to the girl.

"Are you ok?"

Blake attempted a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She immediately felt guilty for telling a lie to someone who was so sincerely concerned about her. That was not something she ever wanted to do again.

Truthfully, she was slightly uncomfortable with all the attention directed her way, but she didn't want to make Yang feel badly. It was something the actress had very little control over, after all.

Yang furrowed her brow as she bit her lip, looking around them. Blake couldn't help thinking that the expression was particularly appealing on the girl, before Yang's face fell into a complete frown.

"I'm really sorry, Blake…" Yang said, regret flowing along with her words as she turned back, sorrow filling her eyes.

"I…hardly notice people staring at me anymore…but I should have thought about how it would make you feel…"

Blake felt something sharp pull at her heart when she saw Yang's distress on full display in front of her. She didn't want Yang to feel responsible for this in any way. And she didn't want Yang to think that this negatively affected how Blake thought of her. Blake had known that Yang was a celebrity the second the blonde had come crashing into that restroom, after all.

"No, it's really ok," she began, trying in vain to make Yang feel better, but Yang shook her head.

"No, you're uncomfortable. We can totally go somewhere else - that's completely fine with me. In fact, I can probably call Pyrrha and see if we can…"

"Yang," Blake cut the girl off before she spun off in search of alternative ideas. "We're already here and I would _really_ love to see some cute animals today." She ended with a smile, a true smile.

She could get used to being uncomfortable…it might just take a little time. It would be like wearing an itchy sweater. At first, all you can think about is how itchy it is, but the longer you wear it, the more that feeling begins to fade away. Eventually, it becomes just a sweater.

And this was a much, much better option than seeing that expression on Yang's face ever again.

Thankfully, Yang's concern ebbed slightly at her words.

"Are you sure?" she asked, giving Blake yet another opportunity to back out.

"I'm positive."

Yang smiled, clapping her hands together in excitement before wrapping Blake in a quick hug, backing away quickly with a blush now dusting both of their faces.

Her decision was already completely worth it.

"Ok," Yang began again after giving a quick cough. "Just try to ignore them the best you can. Or, you can do what I do and think about how you're giving them happiness, excitement, something to talk about…simply by walking around! It's cool to think that you can have that effect on people who you might never even talk to or see again."

Blake couldn't help feeling warmed by Yang's view of her fans. It was clear from the way Yang spoke that she enjoyed being able to add any amount of happiness to someone else's day. It was so selfless and kind of the girl to think that way.

"So…penguins?" Yang asked again, hopefully, as she pointed in the direction where the penguins would be found.

Blake grinned and nodded her head.

"Penguins."

The two of them turned and began strolling down the path together, enjoying the shade of the large olive trees lining the route. Blake could still feel the eyes on them, but found it easier to ignore the other people if she focused more of her own attention on her date. Not that that was particularly difficult to do, since Yang drew Blake's eyes just as much as her fans, if not more so.

"So, when you said you could call Pyrrha…did you mean Pyrrha Nikos? The model?" Blake finally asked, having picked up the name when it had fallen out of Yang's jumble of words earlier.

Pyrrha wasn't exactly a super common name. Plus, it would make sense that Yang Xiao Long, arguably one of the most beautiful women on the planet, would be friends with another woman who was drop dead gorgeous. Blake couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have both of them in the same room. If she thought the stares were bad now…

Yang chuckled lightly before responding.

"Yeah, Pyrrha Nikos. We're close friends and she has this place…oh look!"

Blake looked in the direction Yang was pointing, seeing fake rocks lining an exhibit with a large pool on one side. Small, black and white creatures were waddling around on the rocks, as a couple of the more active members were swimming around in the crystal clear water. The air smelled distinctly of fish, which wasn't an altogether awful smell, but it was quite overpowering.

She chuckled at Yang's sudden distraction as they walked up to the railing of the exhibit – a thick piece of Plexiglas that came up to their waists. Leaning against the makeshift wall, they watched the small creatures move about their humble home, which was arranged to look like a glacier edged by a clear pool.

Well, Yang watched the penguins. Blake found herself sneaking glances at the girl out of the corner of her eye.

To say that Yang was fascinated by the creatures would have been an understatement - the blonde was positively mesmerized by them. Her eyes refused to blink while she watched the two penguins in the water zipping back and forth beneath them, a goofy grin frozen on her face the entire time.

"I used to want to be a penguin," Yang finally said. She then flushed and turned towards Blake. "Anddd…I just totally said that out loud, didn't I?"

Blake was already laughing at the confession, picturing a tiny Yang penguin, complete with blonde hair.

"Why a penguin?"

Yang turned back towards the water, no doubt in an attempt to hide some of her embarrassment.

"Look at them – they swim so effortlessly. And they look so carefree, like nothing bothers them as long as they're allowed to coast around their pool chasing fish. Plus, you have to admit that they are pretty..._cool_."

Blake burst out laughing at the play on words.

"But look at those ones walking around," Blake said as she pointed towards the other animals in the exhibit. "They're not exactly moving effortlessly."

They both giggled as one of the penguins flopped onto its stomach and began pushing itself lazily forward by its back feet, illustrating Blake's point perfectly.

"Well, I was like 10 years old at the time," Yang replied, pushing herself away from the glass. "Plus, this girl I liked thought they were cute and I wanted her to think I was cute too."

"Ah, I _knew_ there would be a girl involved," Blake teased, laughing at the blush growing on Yang's cheeks.

"Ready to continue our tour?" Yang sidestepped, gesturing away from the penguins and back to the path.

Blake nodded as she followed Yang, thinking to herself that she doubted there was ever a time when Yang was not exceptionally cute, _especially_ at ten years old.

The two of them spent the next couple of hours walking the footpaths of the zoo, stopping to look at everything imaginable. Blake soon found out that Yang's enthusiasm was not limited to the penguins, but applied to _all_ of the animals that were there. The blonde was able to pick out something about every species that she absolutely adored and would gush over.

The polar bears were so white. The toucans had the most beautiful blue eyes. The porcupines looked so cuddly (Blake steadfastly disagreed). The panthers moved like ninjas. The elephants were so calm. The tigers had gorgeous colors. The gorillas could eat an orange better than any human.

Yang viewed every animal with the wonderment of a small child; Blake couldn't help but to get caught up in some of that excitement, as well.

And she was noticing fewer of the stares they were receiving because she was so caught up in the marvel that was Yang Xiao Long. She was only reminded when someone would approach Yang and ask for a picture or an autograph. Yang always obliged, and then some, usually striking up an effortless conversation about how their day was going or what their favorite animal was.

And she introduced Blake - every single time.

The way in which Yang introduced her made her feel like a rock star. Enthusiasm would spill out of the blonde as she rapidly listed off a nearly complete list of the books Blake had written. It was as if Yang had been waiting for years to introduce Blake to them, relieved to finally be able to let it all gush out at once. And the way that Yang would look at her, eyes full of pride and admiration…unraveled Blake each and every time.

She found that many of the people approaching them had also read or at least heard of her books. Quite a few would ask for her autograph too, or for a picture with both of them.

While Blake might have usually found the nearly constant interruptions to be bothersome, with Yang around they were actually quite fun and pleasant. Yang was always able to make her fans laugh. And Blake could see what Yang meant by making someone's day as she watched giddiness oozing from the people as they waved their goodbyes. The actress was creating an experience for everyone around her - Blake included.

The only noticeable difference in Yang's personality when she was speaking to her fans was that she seemed to think a little longer before speaking, preventing any unfortunate comments from slipping out. But as soon as they would walk away, Yang was back to sticking her foot in her mouth. Blake found herself growing fonder of the unfiltered way in which Yang spoke to her. No matter how ridiculous, mundane, or embarrassing, if Yang thought it, it was going to spill from her lips a second later.

And as Blake watched Yang restrain herself in front of one person after another, she felt more and more…special. It reinforced the idea that Yang was being completely genuine with her. And the real Yang continued to embarrass herself at nearly every exhibit, much to Blake's personal enjoyment.

Of course, Yang seemed to have already found Blake's own weakness and would throw in suggestive comments here and there that would leave Blake red up to her ears while the blonde giggled incessantly.

Their time together was growing even more enjoyable, if that was possible.

Eventually, they decided to take a break, stopping to rest for a few minutes while sitting at a small table under a large blue and white umbrella. Blake was pulling apart the pretzel Yang had bought her, amusedly watching the blonde devour a tray of nachos as if they were the last few scraps of food on earth.

"You know, no one's going to try to take those from you," Blake said with a grin. "And I could get you some more if a bird does manage to swipe them from you."

Yang finished swallowing the chip that had been in her mouth before giving an embarrassed smile.

"I eat really fast when I'm nervous," she confessed honestly, before groaning and shoving her head in her hands when she realized what she had just admitted.

Blake giggled, thankful she wasn't the only one with some lingering nerves.

"I noticed by the way you demolished the lasagna last night. You probably could have eaten an entire pan of it before I finished my food," she teased lightly, drawing a laugh from the still red-faced girl.

"Yes, I totally could have!" she remarked semi-proudly as she gingerly picked up another chip and slowly, agonizingly slowly, placed it in her mouth.

Blake shook her head when Yang giggled.

"Well at that rate, the zoo will close before you finish."

"Then we could spent the night here together! Just you...me...and a handful of penguins," Yang said, wiggling her eyebrows before glancing at her watch for the time.

"Shoot! We have to get going!" she exclaimed, shoving another chip in her mouth as she shot up from the table, leaving Blake frozen there in surprise.

"What could we be late for? I didn't realize there were any time tables at the zoo," she remarked curiously, standing to follow Yang's lead regardless.

"It's a surpriseeee," Yang called in a sing-song voice as she led them away from the tables. "But we don't want to be late, so let's go!" As she said this, she grabbed ahold of one of Blake's hands and began dragging the dumbstruck girl through the winding pathways towards their destination.

Several minutes later, they were standing in front of a locked gate marked "employees only." There were no exhibits nearby, making it a curious place that Yang had brought her to so urgently. Blake's heart was still racing even though Yang had dropped her hand some time ago. Keeping her hand as still as possible, she imagined that she could still feel the warmth of Yang's fingers lingering there.

"So…this is…a locked door…" she commented slowly, wondering what it could be that Yang had in store for them at this location.

"Wait for it…" Yang said, checking her watch again. "She should be here any minute now."

"She?" Blake asked just as she heard the sound of jingling keys and boots headed quickly towards them.

"Sorry, I'm late!"

The two of them turned towards the origin of the voice, finding a girl around their age rushing their way, dressed in a light blue polo t-shirt and khaki shorts. As soon as the girl saw them, her eyes turned into saucers.

"Oh…my…god…it _is_ you!" the girl exclaimed as she stopped in front of them, gawking in disbelief.

"I know they told me that I was supposed to meet Yang Xiao Long here, but I thought that they were totally messing with me. Oh my god and I was late! I'm so, so sorry!"

Yang chuckled as she looked towards Blake in amusement.

"It's ok, really. We've only been here for a minute or so," Yang replied nonchalantly.

"Good! Oh, we, yes," the girl said, finally turning to look at Blake.

"Blake," she introduced herself when she had the girl's attention.

"Blake _Belladonna_," Yang elaborated, causing the girl's eyes to widen once more.

"The author?" she gasped, before sticking out her hand to shake both of their hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm being incredibly rude. My name is Stacy; I'm a zookeeper here and will be taking you for a short behind the scenes experience today."

Blake turned to Yang in surprise while Stacy began fishing through her keys to open the gate in front of them. Yang merely grinned at her before Stacy swung the door open and gestured for them to go through.

Immediately on the other side of the door was a staircase which led down to yet another locked door. They descended the stairs and waited at the bottom while Stacy relocked the top gate and flew down the stairs to open the door to the building in front of them.

Inside the door was a hallway with a concrete floor and various pictures and children's artwork tacked to a corkboard on each wall. They followed Stacy down the hallway, through another door and down yet another staircase before they stepped back outside.

From what Blake could tell, they were now on the outer edge of the zoo. They were in a large open area that was hedged in by fencing that was at least fifteen feet tall.

Stacy grabbed a large plastic bucket filled to the brim with heads of lettuce as she headed to their right, gesturing again for Blake and Yang to follow her. She set the bucket down for a few seconds in order for her to unlock a massive gate and swung it out of their way.

When Blake walked through the gate, she let out a gasp at what she saw standing behind a chain link fence not twenty feet in front of her.

Two giraffes stood there, both pulling mouthfuls of hay from a feeder that was hanging on one side of the fence. As they walked closer, the creatures noticed their presence and looked up, straightening their necks out to full height while looking down towards them. Noticing the bucket in Stacy's hand, the creatures abandoned their hay and stretched their heads over the top of the fence as far as they could reach.

Stopping just six feet from the fence, they were now standing face to face with two giant giraffe heads, both animals sniffing towards the lettuce.

The only thing Blake could think was, wow. Just, wow.

"These are our two female giraffes, Zoey on the left and Clementine on the right," Stacy began as she sat the bucket down at their feet. "They're three years old, so already fully grown."

"How tall are they?" Yang asked curiously. Blake turned to see that the blonde was just as captivated as she was with the animals towering above them.

"They're nearly 16 feet tall," Stacy answered, pulling two heads of lettuce out of the bucket and handing one to each of them. "Go ahead and pull off some pieces and feed it to them!" Stacy took the first piece of lettuce and held it out towards Clementine, whose tongue rolled out to wrap around the produce and pull it back into her mouth.

Blake and Yang followed Stacy's example, with Blake continuing to feed Clementine while Yang attracted Zoey's attention. Blake held out the first piece of lettuce hesitantly, but smiled when Clementine stretched her neck as far over the fence as possible to reach the lettuce in her hand. The dark grey tongue reached out and wrapped lithely around the leaf of green before tugging it forcefully from her fingers. Clementine huffed in appreciation while she lazily chewed on the lettuce tucked in her cheek, a gust of warm air washing over Blake. Before she had even finished chewing the first piece, Clementine was reaching out again, asking for more.

Hearing Yang giggle, Blake glanced to her left just as Yang looked towards her, exhilaration lighting up her lilac eyes while Zoey happily chewed her lettuce. When Yang was looking away, Zoey stuck her tongue back out as far as it could reach, nearly brushing Yang's cheek. Blake nodded towards the giraffe, causing Yang to turn and yelp when she almost got a mouthful of giraffe slobber.

Blake and Stacy laughed as Yang took a tiny step backwards and placed another leaf of lettuce within Zoey's reach and Blake turned back to Clementine.

"Yeah…you have to be careful. They like to lick faces," Stacy commented, happily watching her charges interact with her guests.

The creatures were giant. The length of Clementine's head alone was probably half of Blake's own height. Her dark brown eyes were shiny like polished marble, peering out from beneath extraordinarily long lashes. Her head swung with a smoothness that seemed impossible for an animal of this size, but Blake had little doubt that the force behind the simple movement was enough to knock her right off of her feet.

A thumping noise suddenly caught everyone's attention, with Zoey and Clementine raising their heads and looking back over their shoulders. A third giraffe, even _bigger_ than the two girls, came into view and stepped lazily up to the fence, each step of a hoof causing an audible thump against the concrete ground. Zoey and Clementine shuffled to the side slightly when the new giraffe walked in between them, making the tallest animals Blake had ever seen suddenly look noticeably smaller. Sticking its head over the fence, Blake and Yang took several steps backwards as the creature's head reached several feet further than the other two.

"And this is Daniel," Stacy said, introducing the third creature in front of them. "He's our only male giraffe, standing over 19 feet tall."

"Woah," Yang said before letting out a low whistle of appreciation. Blake could only nod her head in agreement as they viewed the massive creatures in front of them. She found herself suddenly gaining an understanding of just how small and insignificant she was compared to other creatures inhabiting this planet with her.

Stacy reached into the bucket, pulled out another head of lettuce and began feeding Daniel.

"Are they supposed to eat this much lettuce?" Blake asked.

"They're such big creatures, they could eat lettuce for the entire day and still lose weight," Stacy answered.

Yang laughed. "Jeez, I wish I could do that!"

"You'd want to eat lettuce all day?" Blake asked with a smirk, knowing that's not what the blonde was referring to, but wanting to provoke her a little bit.

"Oh, no!" Yang took the bait, shaking her head vigorously. "Not with lettuce! Maybe like…burritos or hamburgers or something…"

Blake and Stacy both chuckled at the girl's choice of foods, both of which were highly unconducive to the shape Yang was currently in.

"Yeah, that would be nice. You'd never have to go to the gym then!" Stacy agreed, causing Yang to shoot her a smile.

"Exactly! It would also be awesome to have a tongue like the…irs…" Yang trailed off, biting her lip but not before letting the entire sentence slip out.

Blake flushed bright red as she guessed what Yang might be hinting at.

"Why?" Stacy asked innocently, causing both Blake and Yang to turn even redder. Blake stared forward at Clementine, trying to avoid making eye contact with either girl. Yang was on her own with this one; there was nothing that Blake could do to help her.

"Uh…well…I…uh…" Yang coughed as she struggled to think of a good, non-sexual reason to explain her comment.

Stacy caught on before Yang came up with anything though, clearing her throat as she picked up the now empty bucket at their feet.

"Uh…so now that we're out of lettuce, let's take a picture!" she said as she placed the empty bucket off to the side. "You two can stand right there, but turn around and face me."

Blake and Yang did as instructed, with Blake grinning when she saw how red Yang still was. Stacy pulled a camera out of a bag that Blake had failed to notice before, since it was tucked into the small doorway nearby.

While the zookeeper fiddled with the device, Yang took a step closer to Blake so that they were now standing shoulder to shoulder. In one fluid motion, Blake felt the weight of Yang's arm come down around her shoulders, tugging her an inch closer to the blonde.

"Smooth," Blake whispered wryly, though she made no attempt to move away from the girl.

"I can be," Yang replied, causing Blake to let out a small snort of laughter.

"Yeah, when you're not saying how badly you want a giraffe's tongue," she retorted as they focused their attention forwards when Stacy held the camera in front of her eye.

"Ok, ready?" the girl called while she lined up the viewfinder. "Say cheese!"

Blake and Yang smiled as the camera clicked and Stacy turned her attention to the screen to see how it turned out. "Shoot, Daniel looked away," she mumbled softly, whistling to try to gain the giraffes' attention.

"You know you love it though," Yang boasted quietly while they waited, continuing where their conversation had left off.

Blake didn't respond as Stacy signaled that she was going to take another one.

Maybe she _did_ love it.

Blake's smile widened when an idea sprang into her mind. As soon as Stacy raised the camera up to eye level, Blake slipped one arm around Yang's waist, pulling the girl even closer to her side.

"Say cheese!"

"Ch-cheese!" Yang spit out, making Blake nearly burst out laughing.

Stacy smiled when she looked at the camera before walking over to them. Blake dropped her arm from Yang's waist when she felt the blonde's arm disappear from her shoulders. Yang gave her a sheepish smile as Stacy held the camera out towards them.

"It's really good!"

They both leaned in to look at the small screen on the back of the camera.

The picture had turned out extremely well. The three giraffes were standing, heads held at their full height as they all, miraculously, looked towards the camera. Blake and Yang stood beneath the towering creatures with huge smiles on both of their faces, although Yang looked rather shocked and happy at the same time.

"Why do you look so surprised in this picture, Yang?" Blake teased the girl.

"Because! Someone startled me!" was all she could sputter in response while Blake laughed.

"You two are cute together," Stacy stated, causing both of them to look over in surprise to find her looking at them observantly.

Blake was pretty sure that her face was now warm enough to cook on as she looked away in embarrassment while Yang chuckled.

"She provides all the cute, I just bring us together," Yang commented smoothly, blissfully unaware of the way the compliment sent Blake's heart to the moon and back. The words weren't forced or planned out. They flowed freely as Yang thought of them.

When Blake looked back up at Stacy, the girl gave her a warm smile.

"I'll email the picture to you and you can forward it to Blake?" she directed towards Yang, who nodded her head.

"Yeah, if Blake will ever give me her email address!" she replied with a giggle. Blake realized that the girl actually didn't have her email address yet, only her phone number.

"All you have to do is ask," Blake said as they began following Stacy back the way they had come, taking one last look back towards the giraffes who were walking away now that the good food was gone.

"Really?" Yang asked mischievously. "And what else does asking work for?"

Blake smiled back demurely.

"You'll just have to ask and find out, won't you?"

Yang laughed, accepting Blake's response.

Stacy showed them around the giraffe barn, where the creatures were allowed to sleep at night if they wanted. She also explained to them how the gates worked within the barn to help shift the giraffes in and out one at a time. It sounded incredibly complicated to Blake, who was thankful she wasn't in charge of herding thousand pound beasts.

They had then ascended the same staircase they had come down what felt like only moments before, waiting patiently for Stacy to unlock and relock all of the doors as they passed through them.

"Thank you so much for showing us around," Yang said politely as Stacy pulled at the last lock, ensuring that it was latched properly.

"Oh, you're welcome!" the young girl replied with a big smile for both of them. "It was really an honor to meet with both of you and I hope that you had a really good time meeting our giraffes."

"We really did," Blake answered for the both of them, with Yang nodding in agreement.

"I hope both of you have a great rest of your day," Stacy began as she started to back away from them. "I have to go prepare their evening diets so that they can eat dinner." With a wave, she turned around and set off at a rapid pace down the footpath, the sound of keys jangling floating through the air.

"Well," Blake said as she turned her attention back towards Yang. "That was really, really awesome."

A blinding smile lit up Yang's face at the comment.

"Wasn't it? They're so cool! My new favorite animal, hands down," she said rapidly as she bounced up and down from residual excitement - before her eyes widened as she remembered something.

"Oh shoot! What time is it?"

She scrambled to pull out her phone to check the time, letting out a gasp when she saw the numbers displayed there.

"We have to get you back so you're not late for your dinner!" she proclaimed, holding the phone out for Blake to see.

How was it possible for time to pass so quickly when they were together?

The two of them set off at a brisk walk towards the exit of the zoo. Blake was surprised to find that Yang seemed to know the way out without even consulting the map, which was impressive because she found that she had gotten incredibly turned around while they had been inside.

In a matter of minutes, the front gates were within their sights, right next to the small building that housed the gift shop.

Yang groaned when she saw the displays filled with stuffed animals hanging outside.

"Do you think we have time?" she asked, turning pleading eyes towards Blake - who immediately agreed as her heart threatened to melt in her chest at the adorable sight.

"How about five minutes and we can each pick out something $10 or less for each other?" she suggested.

Yang's eyes sparkled with delight as she raced ahead into the store, shouting "deal!" behind her.

Blake smiled as she followed the girl, eyes rapidly scanning the shelves once she had passed through the doors. She was pretty sure that Yang would like whatever Blake picked out for her, but that didn't mean that she didn't want it to be absolutely perfect. It would be the first 'gift' she'd give the girl, after all.

She smirked when she saw a few teenage girls approach Yang and ask for her autograph. This was the only time all day when she had seen Yang look flustered by the disruption. The blonde was at a serious disadvantage, Blake thought while she browsed the shelves interruption free.

After carefully deciding upon an item, Blake made her purchase at the front counter, making sure that Yang wasn't around to see what she had picked up. She then stepped outside to wait for her date to finish as well. She realized that she had never looked at the time before making this challenge, so didn't actually know if it had been five minutes or not.

However, as Yang came tumbling out of the store a minute later, her face crumpled in defeat when she looked at the time displayed on her phone.

"Six minutes…" she said in disappointment.

"I think I will allow it," Blake replied with an authoritative nod of her head, causing Yang to grin.

"So…do you want to see yours first?" Yang asked shyly as she clutched the light blue plastic bag in her hands.

"How about at the same time?" Blake suggested as she extended her own little blue bag.

They switched and then opened their bags in unison. Yang laughed happily when she pulled out the item Blake had purchased for her, while Blake chuckled when she saw what was in her own bag.

"This is so perfect." Yang said as she pulled on the plush beanie that looked like a penguin's head, complete with an extending beak.

Blake smiled as Yang posed in her new headwear.

She looked really, really cute.

Diverting her eyes from the sight of Yang in her penguin hat, Blake pulled her own gift out of the plastic bag - a nice, velvety headband with two cat ears sticking out of the top.

"How do I look?" she asked, sticking them on her head and trying to give Yang a serious look, but finding the girl to be staring at her a little intently.

"Super adorable!" Yang finally exclaimed, stretching out one hand and giving the ears a little ruffle, sending a blush creeping up Blake's cheeks at the endearing gesture.

"You said the panthers were your favorite and this was the closest thing they had," Yang explained. "Who knew you would look so good in cat ears?"

Blake couldn't help smiling at the sincere, albeit somewhat strange, compliment.

"Come on, I don't want to keep my publisher waiting any longer than absolutely necessary," she said.

They turned to continue their walk out of the zoo, neither moving to remove the silly accessories from their heads.

Now they were really getting stared at, but Blake could care less.

After reaching the car, Yang drove Blake back to her apartment building. The two of them chatted the entire time about the different animals they had seen, laughing over the funny things that had been witnessed (or said, in Yang's case).

It was only when Blake's building came into view did she realize that she was going to have to bid goodbye to the girl once more.

Yang pulled the car into the semi-circle drive, parking right in front this time since the sports car had disappeared. The blonde hopped out of the car again, but Blake had already beaten her to opening her own door so Yang merely escorted her inside the building.

"Thank you for today," Blake said sincerely as they stood directly inside the lobby doors. "I had a lot of fun."

"You're welcome! I had a ton of fun too," Yang replied with a smile.

The air that settled over them next was slightly uncomfortable, as Blake wondered what she should say now. If she didn't have to run off to dinner, she would probably have invited Yang up to her apartment for some coffee or tea. Maybe.

Thankfully, Yang didn't seem to be expecting any such invitation from her, looking slightly nervous as she cleared her own throat.

"So…could I see you again tomorrow?"

Blake's heart immediately lifted at the question. She would love nothing more than to see the girl again tomorrow.

"Yes, but," she continued before Yang got too excited, "I get to choose the activity this time."

Yang nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Deal!"

The blonde wrapped Blake in a quick hug before she backed away with another wink.

"Just text me a time and place and I'll be there."

With that, Yang disappeared out of the lobby doors, leaving Blake rooted to the lobby floor in her wake.

Only the sound of her phone ringing in her pocket brought her out of her trance. Pulling it out, she groaned when she saw her publisher's name on the caller ID. Pressing the answer key, she held the device up to her ear as she hurried towards the elevator.

"Hello? Yes, I'm on my way, sorry. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Reaching a hand up, she finally pulled off the cat ears, holding them carefully in her hands as she smiled down at them.

She needed to come up with a great idea for tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Another long chapter...what's up with this?**

**I've gotten way far ahead of you guys...I might post 1 or 2 additional chapters this weekend if I can get them edited!**

* * *

><p>After their date at the zoo (which went splendidly, in Yang's somewhat biased opinion), she spent the next morning anxiously waiting for a text from Blake telling her when and where to meet for their next date.<p>

She had been beyond excited that Blake had agreed to see her _again_ - ecstatic might be a better way to describe it, or thrilled, elated, etc...Yang was pretty sure that even Pyrrha would say that hanging out with her three days in a row was seriously pushing a normal person's limit.

That had actually been what Pyrrha had alluded to when Yang told her they would be seeing each other again today. It had been something along the lines of, "Are you sure you shouldn't give her a break for a day or two?"

Maybe Yang should give it a day before planning something, but there didn't seem to be much of a point when she _wanted_ to see the author again - as soon as possible. The second they said their goodbyes to each other, Yang found herself counting down the minutes until she would see Blake next. What would be the point in prolonging that countdown any longer than necessary?

And with her sometimes crazy schedule, she never knew when she would get called out of town for work. It would be crushing if they 'took their time' and then were separated for a week by work commitments.

Plus, Blake had happily agreed to spend time with her again, so maybe the author felt somewhat the same way.

Yang could only hope that was true.

In her eager anticipation of Blake's text, she had refused to venture too far from her home. She cooked herself breakfast (checked her phone), went to the gym (checked her phone several times), caught up on her emails (on her phone), and watched some mid-morning talk shows (with her phone by her side)…and then, finally, her heart jumped in excitement when she heard her phone buzz when a new text message arrived.

"_Good morning! 3 p.m. – I'll meet you in front of your building. Casual/comfortable clothing."_

Her mind began racing at the non-descriptive message - wondering what possible activity Blake could have planned for them today.

But at least now she had an exact time to look forward to. Looking at the clock, she let out a groan when she realized that she still had several hours until Blake would be there. Several long, painfully slow hours…

Since she had some time to kill, she decided to sit down at the computer and check out some of the books Blake had written. She had already pulled up the complete list the other day and memorized it. - she hadn't wanted to look uneducated in case Blake happened to mention any of them while they were at the zoo!

She had also read through the short descriptions, but that had only made her want to read everything that much more.

Opening up the internet, she found a good website and splurged - buying all of the books and sending them to her tablet. Once done, she went to retrieve the device from under several pillows on the sofa before flopping down and turning it on.

From what Yang had seen, Blake had written across multiple genres - romance, mystery, crime/thriller, and action adventure. The action adventure novels in particular were very popular. Even Yang was familiar with several of them.

After only a few seconds of deliberation, Yang decided to begin her journey with _Sunflower_, the story featuring Saranna. She really wanted to see why Blake's fans had almost unanimously agreed that Yang should play that part if that book was made into a movie.

She hadn't sat down to enjoy a book in a long time, finding that too many disruptions often presented themselves to her, but she was determined to get through as much of this as possible before getting ready for her date. Something about the fact that these words came from Blake's mind made Yang feel giddy with excitement as she began reading.

_Sunflower_ was narrated by the protagonist, a young girl by the name of Corrie. Self-described as quiet and shy, Yang amusedly determined that she was a true _wall_flower. Of course, no one was around to laugh at that pun but herself…

Corrie went to school with a girl named Saranna, who was, in Corrie's words, "as popular as sunshine after a month of rain." Saranna was loved by everyone and she seemed to love everyone in return. While she might have become popular due to her extraordinary beauty, she remained popular by her unflinchingly kind demeanor. She didn't act superior to anyone and was happy to be friends with everyone. She was the sunflower standing above a bed of weeds.

Saranna always greeted Corrie when they passed each other in the halls at school. She knew Corrie's name and used it frequently. She would always ask how Corrie's day was, if she had the time. She would even make small talk about the classes they shared together.

Corrie would respond as best she could, but was sure that her replies seemed curt and vaguely rude at best. She would usually end the interaction abruptly, rushing away with a blush on her cheeks.

She was far too shy to become close to such a magnetic person, but something about Saranna always drew her eye. Initially, Corrie wrote it off as a mild crush and refused to believe it was anything deeper. It wouldn't be that unheard of anyway since nearly half of the school had a crush on the girl.

But then, one day, Saranna began to change. It was so subtle, so imperceptible, no one else even seemed to notice. Saranna herself was acting the same, but there was definitely something different, something wrong. Corrie was the only one who could see it, but couldn't figure out what could possibly be wrong.

Just as she was getting to the best part of the story, Yang's eyes slipped over the top of the screen to the clock hanging on the wall above the television. She yelped in shock as she jumped off the sofa, throwing the tablet down before running to her room.

She was going to be late!

She pulled out the first pieces of clothing that looked like they even slightly went together and threw them on. Checking her reflection, she gave herself a 'B' before rushing back into the living room to try to locate her wallet and keys.

Finding them underneath a random stack of papers on the island in the kitchen, she grabbed the items and flew out the door, nearly forgetting to lock it on her way out. An unusually long elevator ride later, she was racing through the lobby, sparing a glance at her phone to check the time as she shoved open the front doors.

As her momentum carried her outside, she let out a small cry of surprise when she narrowly avoided colliding into Blake, who had been just about to enter the building.

She could feel her cheeks heating up as she straightened up, attempting to collect herself and appear somewhat poised and presentable.

"Uh…hello! Sorry, I didn't see you there," she said, trying to brush over her obvious lateness. Well, technically she had been _right_ on time...but just barely.

The adorable smirk Blake gave her said that she knew exactly why Yang had exploded out of the building in such a hurry. Thankfully, the author didn't comment on the incident.

"Hello," she responded instead. "How has your day been so far?"

As she asked the question, Blake gestured towards the sidewalk and began walking, intending for Yang to follow. Right when she began to follow, Yang heard her phone start ringing in her pocket. Pulling it out of her pocket, she glanced at the name and instantly silenced it.

"Just my agent." Yang said as she fell in step with her date, not even bothering to ask where they were going or why they were walking there.

"My day has been great so far. I did some errands, caught up on my emails, and…"

She abruptly cut off the end of her sentence as panic began to set in. She had been about to say that she had been reading, which of course would make Blake ask what it was Yang had been reading. Could she think of another plausible title? Did she even have to?

She wasn't sure how Blake would feel knowing that Yang was reading her book! She didn't think she would have any problem with Blake watching her movies…actually, she had never even asked if Blake _had _seen them. Actually, she had just kind of…assumed that Blake had seen them…which now made her feel like a horribly arrogant person. Blake could have seen all of them, or…none of them.

She couldn't decide which one of those made her feel worse.

"And you…?" Blake pressed, jarring Yang from her internal turmoil.

Well, the truth was _almost_ always better than a lie…

"And I started reading one of your books…" she finally admitted, ducking her head in shame.

"Oh really? Which one?" Blake asked without breaking a stride.

Yang looked towards her in an effort to gauge her reaction, shocked that her admission hadn't triggered a bigger reaction than that.

"Is that ok? I realize that I should have asked first -" she began until Blake cut her off with a wave of her hand.

"Of course it's ok," Blake replied casually. "I've seen your movies, after all. Why would it be ok for me to watch those and not for you to read my books?"

"Uh…I don't know…invasion of privacy?" she suggested lamely, realizing that her concerns may have been over exaggerated when Blake laughed.

"I wrote them with the intent of other people reading them, actually," the girl replied, shooting Yang a sly grin.

She grinned in return, which slowly faded when the words Blake had just said finally sank in.

"W-wait…you've watched my movies?"

Just seconds earlier, Yang had thought she wouldn't blink twice at Blake watching her films. But now…knowing definitively that Blake _had_ watched them, Yang felt her stomach begin to churn with nerves while her mind buzzed with questions.

What had Blake thought of them? Had she liked them? What did Blake think of _her_ in the films? Of her roles?

"I doubt I've seen _all_ of them - I imagine that list would be pretty long. But I have seen the _Dust Chronicles_," Blake helpfully elaborated for her.

Yang could feel her questions beginning to burn on her tongue, desperately trying to escape. But she was also quite nervous about what her date's potential answers could be.

"What did you think of them?" she finally asked, not able to hold it in any longer.

Blake turned to her with a smile.

"They were very…entertaining."

Yang initially grinned at the response. Entertaining was good…right? But did she mean 'entertaining' like something bad you turn on to laugh at with your friends?

"So…which book did you start?" Blake continued while Yang's mind reeled with more questions than she had had thirty seconds ago.

Accepting that she was not going to get the answers to all of her questions right now, she decided that she could at least answer some of Blake's.

"I started _Sunflower_."

Yang took Blake's nod of appreciation as permission to give her thoughts on the book so far.

"I think that Corrie is super cute! She's all timid, but she's actually looking out for Saranna in a way that no one else is."

"That's an interesting way to look at it…most people just think she's a little obsessive."

Yang laughed.

"Yeah…well she is a little bit. But her heart is in the right place."

"Speaking of being in the right place," Blake said as she suddenly stopped walking. "So are we."

Blinking, Yang looked around her in confusion. She hadn't been paying very close attention to where they had been going, trusting that Blake would lead them the right way. Now, they were standing outside a giant, ugly square building that she must have passed a thousand times when she drove to the set for work. She glanced up at the giant sign that was placed above the front doors, craning her neck to get a better view.

"Laser X?" she cried out in surprise.

"Yup," Blake replied with a grin, pulling open the front door and holding it for Yang.

"I hope you've got good aim."

"Psh…if you've seen my movies, you know I have impeccable aim," Yang boasted jokingly as she walking into the building, immediately cringing at how conceited her comment came out.

She paused directly inside the doors while allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The inside of the building was massive, with the ceiling seeming to be exceptionally far away at two-three stories tall. There were various arcade games filling the floor around them, each lit up with neon lights and emitting all kinds of loud noises. On the opposite side of the room directly in front of them stood a counter that was set up to look like the command station on a spaceship. Several employees were standing there helping customers. To their right, a dark brown staircase was leading up to a grey hatch door with the word 'briefing' placed directly above in fluorescent orange letters. A line of people were standing on the stairs as they waited for an employee to scan their tickets and allow them to enter the room beyond.

"This…is…so…cool!" Yang finally exclaimed as she took in all of the sights and sounds around her, feeling her brain bursting with sensory overload.

She hadn't played laser tag in _years_.

"So, this is acceptable?" Blake asked from her side.

"Are you kidding me? This is _awesome!_" she replied happily, gesturing towards the arcade games as if those alone should clue Blake in as to how awesome the place was.

Turning back to Blake, she found that the girl had a smile on her face, clearly pleased that her idea was being well received. Yang couldn't help but to smile dumbly back for several seconds, lost in appreciation for the thought Blake had actually put behind their day. She honestly couldn't remember the last time someone had put any amount of effort into something like this for her.

"Uh…if you're ready, let's go sign up for some games so we can see who's _actually_ the better shot here," Blake replied with a smirk, breaking their smiling contest in favor of heading across the floor towards the counter.

Oh, how she loved a good competition.

The two of them signed up for the next game and were told that they would have to wait about fifteen minutes before they would be called to the briefing room. They decided that the best way to pass their time would be to play some arcade games. Several failed attempts at downhill skiing later, they finally heard their call sign come out of the loudspeakers.

"Green team, please report to the briefing room to collect your mission. Green team, to the briefing room."

Blake's ears immediately perked up.

"That's us," she said as Yang abandoned her skier, letting him coast aimlessly down the slopes.

"Yes! Ready to eat your words, Belladonna?" she teased while they walked towards the staircase in the corner of the building.

The author merely scoffed at the comment.

"Who's going to make me eat them? Myself?"

"N-no! I am, of course!" Yang replied as they climbed to the top of the staircase, pulling out their receipts to be scanned by the employee standing by the door.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

Yang's mind instantly drifted to the thought of feeding Blake with her hands, effectively chasing away any hope of a good comeback on her part.

"Uh…by…"

Mercifully, Blake started laughing, freeing her from her miserable attempt at having a witty conversation.

"If your aim is anywhere near as good as your ability to make a comeback, I've got this in the bag," the author teased happily.

Reaching the top of the staircase, the employee's eyes opened wide when he saw Yang, jaw dropping open as she handed over her ticket. The young boy scanned it without even looking down, not uttering a single word. She shrugged her shoulders at Blake and headed inside - that certainly wasn't the first time she had been gawked at, and definitely wouldn't be the last.

The briefing room was actually just a small square room with two raised rows to sit on. It was darker in here than the main building, with UV lights casting a purple glow over everything. She picked a spot in the back corner of the room on the top row to sit, where Blake joined her several seconds later.

The room steadily filled with more and more players in a variety of different ages, ranging from little kids to grown ups. The ones who noticed Yang did a double take when they saw her, but were polite enough to turn away and whisper excitedly to their friends instead of staring. Once the last call for players had sounded, the boy at the door pulled the 'hatch' closed, plunging the room into silence as the ambient noise from outside was cut out.

"Ok, welcome to Laser X," he said, taking his place in the front of the room, eyes flitting to Yang every other second. "I'm sure some of you have played before, but there are a few ground rules that need to be followed. No running…no hiding your sensors…and no contact."

"In just a few minutes, we'll divide into two teams and go get your equipment. You will each have a vest with an attached gun."

The boy held up a sample vest and gun and strapped it onto himself in demonstration.

"Strap yourself in at the waist with the buckle. Pull the strap to tighten. The lighted areas are your sensors – where other players will shoot to score points. Once you're hit, your gun will make this noise…"

A rather sad electronic noise sounded from the gun as he held it up.

"When you hear that, you won't be able to shoot for three seconds. Find cover and then your gun will turn back on. Any questions?"

Everyone in the room shook their heads after the boy's whirlwind of instructions.

"Good! Let's divide the group into two teams right…here," he said pointing to a spot in the middle of the room that would determine which team they were on.

"The group on the left will be red – the right will be green. Now follow me and let's get suited up."

Everyone began talking again as they stood to follow the boy through another door, this time into a room with rows and rows of vests hanging upon rods sticking out of the walls. The guns were stuck into holsters attached to the walls underneath each vest.

"I guess that we'll have to prove our skills while playing on the same team," Yang commented as she picked up the first green vest she came across – number 17.

"I don't see that being a problem at all," Blake replied while picking up the vest next to Yang's and pulled it over her head. Grabbing the giant plastic gun from the hostler on the wall, she held it up in front of her chest.

"How do I look?"

She jumped on the chance to check out her date, staring at the girl for probably a few seconds too long.

But seriously, how was it even possible to make a laser tag outfit look that good?

"You look really, _really_ great," she finally answered honestly. Blake obviously hadn't been expecting that answer from the way she turned her eyes away in modesty, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Alright! Form two lines in front of these doors – we'll be starting in a minute!"

Blake and Yang walked up to the line of fellow green players standing behind the green door, located directly beside the red door. A flashing red light located on the ceiling began to go off as a silent countdown began.

"Hey…so…want to stick together?" she whispered to Blake while they prepared themselves for the doors to open.

"Absolutely…if only so you can see what real skill looks like."

Yang turned all the way around to find the girl smirking back at her. As she opened her mouth to retort, a loud alarm sounded while the two doors hissed open simultaneously. She decided to save it for later, turning back around to follow the rush of players out the doors.

Inside the arena was dark and full of randomly placed walls and barrels. The entire structure was actually two stories tall and they were entering on the second level. Two long ramps were located on opposite sides of the building granting access to the floor below - which was covered in a thick layer of fog that created an even more spooky atmosphere.

She could hear the sound of the red team running off to their left, separated by a solid wall that forced the teams to move in opposite directions. The entire place was eerily quiet, with only the sounds of running feet filling the air.

"I thought we weren't supposed to run?" Yang asked in confusion when Blake appeared by her side, watching their own teammates tear off towards the ramp leading downstairs.

"Oh Yang…" Blake replied, shaking her head in mock wonder at Yang's laser tag innocence. "They always say not to run."

With a grin, the author set off at a quick jog after their team - and Yang didn't think twice before setting off after her partner.

Just then, noises erupted everywhere as the game officially began and their weapons came to life. Loud music filled the arena while beams of red light flew in every direction - the players shooting towards anything that moved.

Blake ducked down behind a short wall when several red lights flashed her way. Yang slid to a stop beside her.

"What's the plan, Belladonna?" she asked in a yell as more members of their team raced past.

"Survive," Blake replied plainly before standing and firing towards a group of red players across the room.

She laughed Blake's serious demeanor, standing and firing in the same direction.

"Don't worry, partner, I've got your back," she replied just as seriously.

Her vest vibrated as soon as the words left her mouth, with Blake's flashing an instant later. Turning around, they saw two red vests disappear around a corner.

Blake raised an eyebrow at her.

"Uh…sorry…"

She gave Blake a sheepish smile, praying for forgiveness.

Blake just giggled as she stood up and gestured for Yang to follow her, before tearing off in another direction. Crouching down behind another low wall, the two were now in a good location to pop out and surprise unsuspecting players.

"Peek out and see if anyone's around," Blake whispered to her as the two of them hunkered down behind their cover.

"Me?" Yang's voice squeaked in protest. "Why me?"

"Because last time you let us get shot in the back!" Blake pointed out to her.

Yang sighed and nodded her head apologetically. Yes, that had happened…twenty seconds ago.

She slowly straightened from her crouch, poking her head just above the wall to see if she could spot anything. Her vest immediately began flashing while the death noise playing through her gun.

Groaning, she collapsed onto the floor, clutching her shoulder sensor in pain.

"They…got me…Blake," she wheezed painfully.

Concern filled Blake's eyes, causing her to set down her own gun in order to kneel forward towards Yang's shoulder.

"Let me take a look," she said firmly.

Yang lifted her hand for a few seconds, feeling her heart start pounding when Blake leaned close to take a look at her 'injury.' From this distance, she could smell the girl's shampoo wafting through the air. She dropped her hand back down onto the wound when Blake leaned back, eyes filled with sorrow.

"It…doesn't look good…" the girl replied remorsefully. "I…I don't think you're going to make it…"

Yang almost burst into laughter at Blake's blunt, anti-encouraging comment, but somehow managed to keep a straight face.

"Will you…stay with me…?" she asked, throwing a few raspy coughs in at the end of her question for good measure.

"Of course I'll stay," Blake responded, smiling at her sadly.

Then, Blake did something Yang hadn't expected – she reached down and gently grabbed ahold of her free hand, while gazing tenderly into her eyes.

Her heart rate doubled at the contact, savoring the feeling the girl's soft fingers intertwined with her own. For a few short seconds, she became lost in those amber eyes, finding everything she ever needed within them.

It took Blake's vest buzzing to bring them both out of their moment, a red player sprinting off behind them after tagging the girl. Yang flushed, grateful that it was dark, when Blake released her hand and picked up her gun from the ground.

"We should probably head out," the girl said with a smile, pushing herself to her feet.

Yang nodded her head as she followed suit, grateful for a distraction from what had just transpired.

The two of them ran around together for the next fifteen minutes, rolling and diving behind cover just like little kids. They yelled out complicated strategic orders to each other, as if they were in an actual battle.

Blake was actually surprisingly good at the game, able to blend into the shadows easily. Yang's more…heads on approach…got her shot an awful lot, but she usually managed to tag a few players in the process. By the end of the game, when their guns automatically shut off while echoing 'game over' loudly, Yang had completely forgotten that she had been trying to prove she was a better player than Blake.

"Remember your vest number," Blake reminded her as they returned their vests to the racks and trudged back into the main lobby. Yang nodded her head, remembering the number 17 as they walked into the main room. Placed directly in front of them was a gigantic television screen depicting the scores from the prior game.

"There I am!" Yang pointed when she found "Green 17" listed on the board near the middle of the list. "Hey, I actually didn't do as badly as I thought."

A second later, she picked out Blake's score, three places higher than hers. She laughed while Blake smirked at her.

"Ok, ok, you might have been better than _me_, but it looks like both of us kind of suck," she replied jokingly.

Blake laughed at Yang's honest assessment of their laser tag skills.

"Do you want to play again?"

"Absolutely."

The building was a lot busier than it had been when they had entered their game moments earlier. From the influx of small children, it looked like several birthday parties were just beginning. This time, they actually had to wait in line for a few minutes before they could purchase their passes into the next available game.

"So…more arcade games?" Yang asked when they turned away from the desk, receiving Blake's nod of approval.

"Any in particular you want to play?"

Blake pointed towards a big screen nearby, complete with two large machine guns mounted to the front of it.

"Alien's Revenge?" Yang read the title from the top of the machine, raising one eyebrow in surprise.

"Yes…unless you're too scared I'll beat you," Blake replied with a smirk.

Yang immediately pulled some quarters out of her pocket and strode over to the machine.

"Bring it on."

They played Alien's Revenge for the next few minutes, drawing quite the crowd to watch them play.

"Blue team, please report to the briefing room. Blue team, to the briefing room."

"Thank god," Yang said in relief as she happily released her gun. "I swear, Blake. We've been playing this for like fifteen minutes now and are still awful at it."

"Well, maybe _one_ of us is still awful…" Blake began, but Yang cut her off with a laugh while pointing to the screen as proof.

"Yeah, ok, we're both pretty bad," Blake agreed with a smile.

Just then, a stampede of tiny feet could be heard racing by them towards the staircase leading towards the briefing room. Blake and Yang both stared as they watched over a dozen children race up the steps towards the employee at the top.

"Uh…how do you feel about kids, Blake?" she asked while staring at the crowd of small children.

"How do I feel about _having_ them, or about _playing_ against them?"

The tips of Yang's ears instantly caught on fire when she realized how her question could be construed.

"Playing them!" she blurted out abruptly while her cheeks attempted their best tomato impression. "Not that I wouldn't want to know how you felt about having them…but way in the future! I mean…not _that_ far in the future – not that I'm assuming there will be a future or anything!"

She sighed and buried her face in her hands, only lifting her eyes when she heard giggling beside her.

"Well, to answer both of your questions - I don't mind playing them, and I would probably love to have them."

"…in the future," the girl added playfully.

It probably wasn't physically possible to grin any larger than Yang did right then.

"Well, let's go then!" she said, motioning for Blake to follow her towards the stairs.

Once they walked into the briefing room, they found that it was already packed with the children. They sat down in the only available space for two, dead center in the front row, as the employee closed the hatch behind them.

"Ok, now we're going to divide into two teams…" he said after retelling his instructions nearly word for word. Carefully counting the people in the room, he put his hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"Uh…we're going to have to have one of you move over to the other team," he directed towards the group of young boys on the right side of the room, who immediately began squabbling over who should be separated from the party.

"We'll split up, if you need."

Yang looked over in dismay when she heard Blake's offer, just in time to catch the girl's wink.

"It might be kind of fun to shoot _at _you this time."

Yang could only chuckle in response.

"Yeah, ok, split us up!" she told the employee.

"Alright…you can go on the red team," he said as he pointed towards Yang. "And you can be on green," he finished with a gesture towards Blake.

Yang beamed as she turned towards her teammates, finding many little eyes trained upon her - most growing wide in recognition.

"Alright Team Yangarang!" she called out to them happily as they stood to head into the equipment room. "We're going to destroy the green team, right?"

Her new little minions cheered in response, rushing forward to grab their vests and guns.

She grinned at Blake while she pulled on her own vest and strapped herself in.

"Ready to lose?" she joked, making Blake scoff.

"Please…have you seen my team? They're pros, all of them."

Yang glanced at all of their teammates, most of them only reaching up to their hips in height. Still, she was confident that she had the better team.

"Care to make it interesting?"

She loved the way Blake's eyebrow arched in intrigue.

"I'm listening."

"Loser buys dinner?" Yang suggested, the first thing that came to mind.

Blake nodded as she held her gun up to her chest in both hands, once again looking like an ultra attractive laser tag player.

"Deal."

Yang grinned and turned back to the red team. Honestly, she could care less who won or lost. The best part about the wager was that she had now secured dinner with Blake, which was a win in her mind regardless of who was paying.

"Ok team," she said, kneeling down in front of all the children wearing red, "our strategy is to win and…win…by any means necessary!"

The kids all cheered at her less than inspiring speech. Turning around, Yang found Blake having a similar powwow with her own team. Although…it seemed to be much more serious and in depth than the one Yang had just had…

The red light began flashing – calling them all to line up in front of their doors. Yang glanced over just in time to catch Blake staring at her. She smirked.

"I think I'd like some Mexican food tonight," she teased.

"In your dreams," Blake replied playfully as the doors hissed open and everyone rushed into the arena.

Yang wasted no time by the door this time, racing away as quickly as she could, watching her teammates fan out in all directions. She glanced towards the members of the green team, but couldn't spot Blake anywhere. Less than a minute later, the game went live as their vests and guns became active.

This game was very different from the last one since the kids ran around like crazy, screaming and shouting when they were hit. Yang quickly found that she needed to be more careful when running in order to avoid colliding with one of the small children. Still, she hurried around the arena at a frenzied pace, keeping her eyes peeled for a certain beautiful girl with black hair and amber eyes.

But after several minutes, she still couldn't catch a glimpse of Blake anywhere. Where had the ninja disappeared to?

While racing around the maze downstairs, Yang's attention fell upon a little girl on the opposite team crouching behind a tall wall in fear. Immediately suspending the search for her date, she went over to check on the poor child.

"Hey," she whispered as she knelt down on the ground beside her. "Are you ok?"

The girl looked at her, wide eyes brimming with tears as she nodded her head rapidly in what was clearly a lie.

"Are you scared?" Yang asked, trying to prod a tiny bit.

The little girl thought for a few seconds before slowly shaking her head 'no.'

"I'm really b-bad," the girl finally wailed, voice wavering on the edge of tears.

"Oh, that's ok though," Yang quickly replied, patting the girl gently on the shoulder as she sat her gun down on the floor. "You're not bad! Hey, I even heard that you shot Yang Xiao Long _several_ times!"

Yang leaned backwards and pointed towards the circle of red lights glowing on her chest. After a few seconds, the confused expression lifted from the little girl's face when she finally grasped what Yang was telling her to do. She raised her gun, which seemed comically large in her tiny hands, and squeezed the trigger when it was pointed directly at Yang's chest.

An electrical noise sounded while Yang's vest flashed rapidly, indicating that she had been hit.

She laughed when the girl smiled happily.

"See? You're not bad at all. Want to shoot me again?"

Yang allowed the younger girl to shoot her as soon as her vest came back to life, chuckling at the joyful expression on the girl's face. That was, until she heard the buzzer indicating that there was only a few minutes remaining in the game – and she had yet to even spot Blake.

"Hey, want to help me with something?" she suddenly asked, earning a quick nod from her new compatriot.

"Great. I'm going to boost you up to look over this wall. Can you try to find the girl that I was with earlier? The only one above four feet tall?"

Receiving an enthusiastic nod in return, she allowed the small girl to clamber on her back as she held her steady to look over the wall. Several seconds later, she heard a squeal of success.

"She just ducked into that corner over there!"

Yang sat the child carefully on the ground before peeking around the corner in the direction the girl pointed. She gave her new friend a quick salute before racing off towards the new maze of walls, slowing down as she passed through them.

If Blake had just come through here, she had to be nearby…

A hand suddenly wrapped around her mouth, stifling her scream as she was pushed into the nearest wall face first.

"Are you ready to surrender?" a silky voice whispered in her ear.

_Yes, I am 100%, positively, absolutely ready to surrender to that voice_, Yang thought.

Thankfully, she had just a _tiny_ bit more pride than to try to say that aloud. Although...she _was_ currently the one shoved into a wall with a hand covering her mouth...so...she did the only thing she could think of in order to get out of this position with her pride still somewhat intact…

She stuck her tongue out and licked.

The hand instantly disappeared, allowing Yang to turn around and find Blake wiping her palm on her jeans.

"You licked me?" the girl asked in shock.

"Hey, girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," she answered, somewhat smugly, even though she now had a gun pointed directly at her chest.

Shaking her head, Blake still couldn't resist smiling.

"Any last words then?" she asked, trying to force a scowl onto her beautiful features and failing miserably.

A million words popped into Yang's mind – some horribly inappropriate to say at that moment…or ever. Eventually, she smiled.

"What do you want for dinner?"

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, they were exiting the equipment room back into the main section of the building, looking up at the scoreboard to find their ranks.<p>

"What was your number again?" Blake asked, eyes scanning the list of players.

"Red seven," Yang confidently replied as she searched.

Blake immediately began giggling.

"Yang, you're dead last!"

She couldn't help but grin at her own miserable showing, especially when Blake was finding so much joy in it.

"Well…I was looking for you basically the entire time and not bothering to shoot anyone else," she tried to explain, hoping to at least save a little bit of face.

"_And _you got hit a ton," Blake added helpfully.

Yang smiled, glancing towards the little girl who had been responsible for most of those hits, now chattering happily with what appeared to be a group of her older brother's friends.

"I sure did," she admitted. "I'm not going to pretend I did well – and I will gladly treat you to any dinner of your choosing."

Blake followed her eyes in the same direction as the little girl before turning back to Yang with a much more affectionate expression.

"Did you want to get dinner now then? I know a great sushi place nearby."

"Lead the way, Milady," she responded with a small bow, grinning while she followed Blake out of the building.

They both paused to blink when they stepped outside. It was much brighter than it had been inside, even though it was now evening and the sun was beginning to disappear from the sky.

It wasn't until they were walking down the sidewalk that Yang remembered Glynda's call from earlier. She pulled out her phone, figuring she should check and see if Glynda had left a message.

"Do you mind if I check my messages real quick?" she asked politely, waving her phone for Blake to see. "I should just check and see if my agent needed anything important."

Blake nodded her approval and turned her attention back forwards.

Yang grinned as she tapped the device on, but immediately froze in her tracks when she saw her screen.

"Uh oh…"

Glynda had called her _six_ times, leaving her six messages, _and_ sent her several emails. Her agent was normally somewhat overzealous, but never _this_ much. Not unless something really important had happened.

Checking the emails first, she instantly saw what all of the fuss was about, making her to let out a loud groan.

"What is it?" Blake asked in concern, having turned around to walk back to the frozen actress.

"Uh…well…"

She really couldn't predict how Blake would react to this. But, better to find out sooner rather than later, right? She just hadn't thought that she would be finding out _this_ soon…

She turned the phone around and handed it to Blake, who glanced at her in confusion before hesitantly accepting the device. Yang held her breath while she watched intently for Blake's reaction. From the girl's current expression, she really couldn't tell how this was going over.

That was, until Blake started laughing.

"Well…" Blake replied through her chuckles, handing the phone back to Yang. "It's not very often that an author makes headline news like that."

She smiled at the end of her statement, seemingly unperturbed by what she had just seen. Yang breathed a huge sigh of relief, looking back down at the article posted on an online celebrity gossip website.

'Yang steps out with new beau – Cinder heartbroken,' the caption read, complete with a picture of the two of them at the zoo yesterday.

She gave a small laugh herself at the article, but still felt uneasy about how quickly this problem had appeared.

"A-are you sure this is ok?" she asked, almost afraid to hear an honest answer. This was something she had very little control over, after all. Being spied on and talked about kind of came with the territory of dating her, and if Blake decided she couldn't handle the attention…well…even if Yang quit acting, the media would still follow her around for a long, long time.

"Yes! I mean…it's a little strange; definitely not the level of attention I'm used to…but I would have been a fool to believe that this wouldn't happen, eventually…" Blake replied, the sincerity in her reply putting Yang back at ease.

"I just wish the article was…I don't know…more concrete," Yang lamented as she finally put her phone away.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh…I don't know…something that really said 'Bam! We're an item!' But this….this could easily just be two friends out having a good time together..."

Blake nodded her head thoughtfully.

"I see what you mean, but…_are_ we an item?"

"Yes, of course!" she responded without hesitation, before the look of surprise in Blake's eyes made her realize that she actually couldn't speak for both of them.

"Um…I mean…are we? Because…uh…I would really like to be..."

Lamest way to ask a girl out...ever.

But Blake smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Without a word, the raven haired girl pulled Yang forward by the front of her shirt, lightly pressing their lips together in a gentle kiss. Before Yang was even able to kiss the girl back, Blake had already pulled away.

"S-so…do you think that makes it clear enough to everyone?" the author asked purposefully, even though Yang could see the faint blush on her cheeks and slight tremble of her hands.

Of course, Yang could only gape at the author like a goldfish out of its bowl, her heart beating at a million miles per hour while she struggled to surface for air.

"Uh…wow…yes…I mean…y-yeah I think so!"

Blake smirked, confidence fully restored by Yang's stutters. Turning away, she gestured for them to continue walking.

Yang bit her lip and followed, trying to save the feeling of Blake's lips on her own for as long as possible. After they had walked a short distance in comfortable silence, she decided that it was time for her to attempt a bold step forward.

Her palms instantly began sweating when she thought about what she wanted to do. Wiping them both off repeatedly on her jeans, she glanced quickly towards her date before taking a deep breath. Nervously, she reached her hand across the distance separating them, grasping the girl's hand while they continued walking.

The soft hum of appreciation she earned from the author made her feel a thousand feet tall.

"You know…uh…I think that I could probably use some more clarity on that…" she remarked playfully, making Blake laugh again.

"Maybe later. Right now I'm starving."

Nodding her head, Yang couldn't remove the megawatt smile from her face.

She would buy Blake all the fish in the sea if it gave her even a slight chance of earning another kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

**Two chapters in two days! Woohoo!**

**I think that we could all use some more fluff in our lives right now...prepare to get your daily dose!**

* * *

><p>When Blake woke the next morning, she felt as if she were waking up from a dream. The events of the past few days felt too…surreal…to have actually happened. First, meeting Yang - in a bathroom of all places - then going on several dates with the beautiful blonde, being surprised at every turn by the type of person Yang was turning out to be.<p>

And yesterday…she _really_ couldn't believe what had happened yesterday...

Not only had they finally kissed, but _Blake_ had kissed Yang first. _Blake_.

Never in a million years would she have thought that she would be the one to initiate any kind of intimacy between the two of them. Even though she had _wanted_ to kiss the girl after their date at the zoo, she hadn't been able to find the nerve to make the first move.

But in that moment, when they had been standing together on the sidewalk, she had felt like it was just the right thing to do. After playing laser tag, with the friendly competition, and seeing Yang let that little girl tag her repeatedly during the game…Blake had felt overcome with fondness for the blonde. The way Yang cared for the people around her was enviable, especially for someone like Blake, who was much more reserved. And this feeling had come out in an unexpectedly amazing way.

Not only had she finally found the daring to do it, but she had actually kissed Yang _twice_. Sharing a longer one when Yang had walked her home after their dinner.

Since then, she had devoted practically every waking second thinking about Yang and those kisses. She wouldn't want to say she was _obsessed_, but she certainly wouldn't mind doing it again. And again...and again...

Fortunately, she knew that Yang felt the same way from the ridiculously goofy grin the blonde sported after each kiss.

When Yang had invited her out again today, she hadn't hesitated in accepting the invitation. Although, from how Yang had described it, they would actually be attending an event Yang had been scheduled to make an appearance at. Even though Blake had questioned whether they should be seen together like this, Yang had assured her that it would be ok; it wasn't 'that type' of event, whatever that meant.

And so, in what Blake was determining was typical Yang fashion, the blonde had only given her a time and the vague instruction to 'wear something you can run around in and don't mind getting dirty.'

Black shorts with a white tank top seemed to fit that bill perfectly – it was precisely what Blake would wear to the gym…if she went to the gym, that was. Now all Blake had to do was eat breakfast before her date would arrive in time for their early start this morning. She could only imagine what sort of event would call for such casual attire…but the mystery was just part of the excitement.

She began second guessing her choice of clothing right when the buzzer sounded, announcing Yang's arrival.

"Yes?" she asked, gazing at her reflection in the hallway mirror one last time.

"Miss Xiao Long is here for you," Charlie's voice replied from the intercom.

"I'll be right down."

Even though she had known Yang was coming to pick her up this morning, hearing the blonde's name still filled her stomach with butterflies. Grabbing her keys off the counter, she found herself staring at the elevator doors seconds later, waiting impatiently for them to open once more.

When they did, she was surprised to find Yang and Charlie once again in the middle of what appeared to be a highly animated conversation. Only this time, the blonde was actually sitting on the edge of Charlie's desk; tan, toned legs dangling towards the ground while the two shared a laugh about something.

Their attention turned to her as soon as she stepped into the lobby, allowing her to throw a raised eyebrow in Charlie's direction at how comfortable he had allowed Yang to make herself after they had met just two times. She then granted herself a few moments to check out her date…actually, to check out her girlfriend.

Thankfully, Blake didn't seem to have been too off target in her outfit. Yang was sporting a _short_ pair of black shorts along with a yellow spaghetti strap top. But, as with everything else, Yang was clearly the more glamorous of the two - that was probably just something Blake was going to have to get used to.

Although…from the way Yang was looking at her right now, she might imagine that the blonde would put up an argument over who had the better outfit.

Blake felt a familiar flush dust her cheeks while Yang looked her up and down, judging her clothing for…something – she couldn't really be sure what. Finally making a determination, Yang gave her a big smile after hopping down from her perch on Charlie's desk.

"You're in pretty good shape, right?" Yang asked as she approached Blake, grin still on her face.

Blake smirked at the abrupt greeting, forever on the lookout for any opportunity to throw the blonde off her game. It was a rather easy thing to do, and Blake always found the results to be particularly adorable…

"Well, good morning to you too," she replied with a smile, knowing that the greeting would cause Yang to stumble.

And stumble she did…right into a big vat of stutters as she attempted to correct the perceived mistake.

"O-oh right, good morning!" the blonde replied hastily, an endearing flush lighting up her cheeks. "How has your morning been? Well, I imagine it probably just started…but you know…and, um, you look amazing, by the way."

Blake couldn't help herself, letting out a giggle while she watched Yang struggle through what she thought must be the proper morning greeting. Of course, she was more than happy to help Yang out of the predicament she had all but forced the girl into.

"You look amazing, too," she responded softly, drawing that signature radiant smile back into the light. But the longer they stood there smiling at each other, the more uncomfortable Blake became. Something about those lilac eyes was so disarming...like Yang was looking into her very soul.

"So…are you going to tell me where we're going now?" she asked hopefully, trying to direct attention away from herself.

"Nnnnnope!" Yang responded gleefully, confidence back at full charge. "You'll see when we get there! But before we go…any chance for a good morning kiss?"

The question was whispered as Yang leaned close to her, eyes twinkling with unconcealed playfulness. Blake was sure that her expression registered purely as shock at the boldness of the request – her mind going temporarily blank as to how to appropriately respond.

Thankfully, her brain began firing on all cylinders seconds later, allowing her to answer in the cheekiest way possible to save face.

"Kisses are earned, not given," she responded with a smirk, walking by Yang towards the lobby doors so that they could get going.

As expected, Yang let out a good natured laugh from behind her before jogging to catch up.

"Ohhh, I plan to earn one, don't you worry," the blonde remarked happily as she reclaimed her place by Blake's side.

Blake tried to prevent Yang from seeing her smile, opting to open her own door to the now familiar car parked in front of the building.

The drive to wherever they were headed ended up taking fifteen to twenty minutes – just enough time to make it to the more suburban part of Vale, where there were fewer skyscrapers and more houses with sizeable lawns and swimming pools. Blake hadn't been out this way in a long time, but she knew it was the area of wealthy neighborhoods and large tracts of still undeveloped land.

Leaving the neighborhoods behind, Blake was surprised to find an entire field filled with parked cars and people. When Yang turned the car into the 'parking lot' (actually just a large area filled with gravel), Blake finally saw a large painted sign that gave away what their activity would be for the day.

'9th Annual Vale Valley Mud Run'

"A mud run?" she asked incredulously as soon as the words sunk in.

The only response she received was a laugh while Yang parked the car and hopped outside, running around the front of the vehicle in order to open Blake's door before she had the opportunity to get it herself.

"Do you think you can do it?" Yang asked, a fair amount of concern in her voice while waiting for Blake to exit the car.

"I…think so…"

"I've been participating in this particular mud run for nine years running now," Yang remarked proudly. Gesturing towards the registration area, Blake followed her date carefully through the crowds of other participants, noticing that many stopped and stared when they passed by.

Blake could certainly understand why they would stare – what with Yang's excellent figure and…form fitting shorts…but that didn't help put out the tiny spark of jealousy unexpectedly flitting around her chest.

The feeling was instantly dispelled when Yang grabbed ahold of her hand, guiding Blake the rest of the way to the registration booth together.

The two girls manning the table instantly recognized Yang, lighting up when they saw the girl approaching them.

"Good morning," Yang greeted the girls pleasantly.

"G-good morning!" the girl on the right stuttered while the second girl shuffled the papers in front of her nervously.

"Yang Xiao Long, here to check in. Oh, and I hope you don't mind that I brought my girlfriend."

Blake flushed at the term, which drew the two girls' stares in her direction – most notably to their still intertwined hands. She loosened her grip on Yang's hand in discomfort, which drew a questioning gaze from the blonde before she obligingly let go. The second she did, Blake felt ashamed that she had let two strangers make her cut off the display of affection. Trying to cover up the act, Blake hastily picked up a pen from the table as one of the girls pushed a form towards her.

"O-of course, that's ok!" the first girl responded while Blake began filling out the form in front of her. "She just needs to fill out that form and we'll get a number for her."

"Perfect," Yang replied, giving Blake a wide smile that only made her feel guiltier. "Are you ready to get dirty?"

"Yes," she replied firmly, determined not to allow that incident ruin her day with Yang. "I do think that white might have been a poor color choice though…"

Yang laughed at the observance.

"It wouldn't have mattered what color you chose…we're going home covered in mud regardless!"

"Uh…Y-Yang?"

The question brought their attention back to the registration table, where the two girls were staring at them with eyes wide in adoration.

"H-here are your numbers for the race, just stick them on the front of your shirts. And they'll be expecting you at the race podium in fifteen minutes."

"Great, thank you!" Yang responded, taking the two numbers and handing one to Blake.

"The race podium?" Blake asked inquisitively, following Yang away from the table.

"Yeah…They ask me to give a little kick off speech each year to set things off. It's no big deal, really."

Blake looked at the girl curiously while they walked between various groups of race participants. There was something Yang wasn't mentioning, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

Approaching the starting line, marked by a giant banner broadcasting the word 'start,' a man wearing a baseball cap and holding a clipboard motioned hastily towards them.

Yang turned towards Blake, smiling apologetically.

"I'm going to go do this thing, then meet you right back down here and we'll start, k?"

"Of course," she responded with a smile. "Go give your speech – I'll wait right here."

Yang flashed her another winning smile before bouncing off after the man in the hat, leaving Blake standing in the midst of the other race participants at the starting line. Glancing around the field, she could see the outlines of several large obstacles surrounded by pools and pools mud. Tall walls, inflatable slides…a whole cornucopia of hurdles was stretching out in front of them.

Nerves began bubbling in her stomach when she finally thought about the grueling amount of physical activity in her immediate future.

She wouldn't necessarily say she was in poor shape…but it had been quite some time since she had undertaken anything of this magnitude. She ate right and made sure to get outside regularly, but other than that, being an author didn't really necessitate a vigorous workout routine.

Her date, on the other hand…well, the blonde's scant clothing revealed precisely how much time she spent working on her figure.

Speaking of Yang, Blake noticed the girl climbing up onto a small stage equipped with a single microphone directly to the right of the starting line - accompanied by an older woman whose aura seemed to suggest she was in charge. The attentions of those in the crowd drifted towards the stage as more and more of the participants realized that the run was about to begin.

From her place twenty feet or so from the stage, Blake's eyes quickly focused upon Yang, only to divert away when she realized those lilac eyes were already staring directly back at her. More race participants began to scoot in closer to her, preparing to hear the kick off speech.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," the older woman began with a gracious smile at the crowd of anxious runners in front of her. "It is a pleasure to see all of you here bright and early for the 9th Annual Vale Mud Run – benefitting the three Vale Animal Shelters located within our great city."

The woman allowed a pause to stretch out, providing enough time for the crowd to give a quick cheer before she continued.

Blake now realized what it was that Yang hadn't yet told her. This was a charity event Yang had brought her to - for animal shelters, no less.

She hadn't thought it was possible for the blonde to become any more endearing, but apparently she'd been wrong.

"It is my honor to introduce to you the beautiful and talented Yang Xiao Long, one of our long time Mud Run supporters. She's going to get us started here today. Yang?"

A loud round of applause passed through the crowd when Yang stepped up to the microphone to begin speaking.

"Yang Xiao Long? Jeez she's even hotter in person than in the movies!"

"I _told_ you she'd be here. She comes every year!"

"I heard she just started dating some author – think that's true?"

Blake's ears burned at the comments from the people standing beside her. She did her best to focus all of her attention on Yang, attempting to drown out the people around her.

"Good morning!" Yang's voice rang out cheerfully through the microphone, causing the applause to die down while a few people shouted 'good morning' in return.

Yang grinned, eyes finding Blake's one more time before she continued to scan across the crowd.

"I know the _real_ reason you're all here is to jump in some mud, so I'll keep this as brief as possible. Your entry fee and donations today go directly towards the animal shelters servicing the greater city of Vale – finding forever homes for those animals that have been…a little less fortunate in their lives. If the awareness raised today can send even one dog or cat home to a new family; well, then we should all consider this event to be a success."

A smattering of applause broke out when Yang paused, which Blake joined in with. Yang's passion for this cause rang through with every syllable she spoke aloud, making it nearly impossible not to feel motivated to help her succeed.

"So…without further ado…everyone be safe this morning. Have fun and, most importantly, get muddy!"

Raucous cheers broke out, the energy in the crowd becoming charged in preparation of the start signal. The older woman handed Yang a starting pistol, which the blonde promptly pointed up in the air and fired.

A loud crack rang out, immediately followed by a flurry of activity. Blake stepped quickly to the side to avoid being trampled by the swarm of people pushing by her through the starting gate, still cheering while they made their way towards the first obstacle.

Yang appeared in front of her moments later, bouncing up and down with unreleased energy.

"Ready to go?"

When Blake nodded, Yang turned and gestured for Blake to follow her over the starting line. There was a short distance of grass to cover before they reached the first obstacle, which they crossed at the easy pace Yang set.

"So…animal shelters, huh?" Blake asked curiously as they jogged amongst the other run participants.

"Yeah…I wish that I could actually adopt a dog or a cat, but I just work too much right now to be able to take care of one. So, I try to help in another way!"

"I take it you're a dog person then?" Blake teased – figuring that Yang's high energy would be much more suited to owning a rambunctious dog.

The laugh she received in response only furthered the suspicion that she was correct.

"Well…I'd like to say both, but I might be _slightly_ more of a dog person. My little sister is kind of like a hyperactive puppy sometimes, so maybe that's where I got my fondness for them."

Blake laughed at the logic, remembering that Yang had mentioned having a younger sister - two years younger, if she remembered correctly. Ruby - the one who was currently traveling around the world by herself.

They slowed to a walk in front of the first obstacle – a field of small inflatable pools arranged like a tire run that they would have to jump through. The bottom of each pool was filled with muddy water, splashing out after each racer jumped from one and into another.

"Are you ready?" Yang asked with a grin, eyes twinkling happily.

Glancing down at her clean, dry clothing one last time, she nodded her head. With that as her answer, Yang took off through one row of mud 'tires,' spraying muddy water in all directions as she made her way towards the end.

Not wanting to be left too far behind, Blake chased after the girl, feeling her left sneaker completely drenched the second she jumped into the first miniature pool. The damage being done, she followed Yang as quickly as she could.

Stepping out of the tires at the end of the row, she could hear her shoes squelching with each step - completely water logged. Mud was splattered up her legs as far as her knees, but her shirt had managed to stay dry, so far.

"Don't look so thrilled with yourself," Yang commented with a laugh. "We only just got our feet wet. The wire crawl is next."

"The…"

Blake followed the direction Yang pointed, finding rows of low hanging wire strung over the muddiest patch of earth she had ever seen.

Letting out a small groan, she still managed to smile when Yang tugged her by the hand to run over to their next obstacle.

It turned out that the 'muddy' tires hadn't been all that muddy compared to the wire crawl, as Blake soon found out. Getting down onto her belly, she slithered her way under the rows and rows of wire, feeling the cold mud squishing out of the way beneath her hands and legs.

When she finally pulled herself up at the end, Yang immediately giggled at the sight of her - her front completely covered in a thick layer of mud up to her neck.

Of course, Yang was equally mud covered - but the actress somehow managed to make it look fashionable.

"Come on, muddy!" Yang called out as she led the way to the next obstacle.

The two of them made their way through the obstacle course - adding more and more mud to their collection at each stop. They raced up a pyramid climb, only to slide down a muddy ramp on the other side. Next they ran through a pool filled with nearly two feet of muddy water, which Blake found actually helped _clean_ her shoes somewhat, they had been so filthy.

They crawled through long, inflatable tunnels with the bottoms lined in mud. They flew down a slip 'n slide covered in muddy water. And now they had finally made it to the very last obstacle...a seven foot tall wall they needed to climb over.

Blake had done pretty well with all of the other obstacles today, but of course they had saved the hardest for last - when she had almost no energy left in her arms. The easy way out was an option - she could just step around the side of the wall and forfeit trying, but she was never going to do that in front of Yang.

Jumping up, she was able to grip her arms over the top of the wall, but couldn't quite find the right foothold to push herself over the top.

"Uh...can you give me a boost?" she asked Yang as she hung there.

After several seconds of her arms burning and silence from her date, she looked back towards the ground, finding Yang just staring at her with a blush on her cheeks. Blake felt a flush of her own appear when she realized what the blonde had been doing.

"Are you going to keep staring at my butt?" she asked playfully, the pain in her arms seeming to lessen while she focused on Yang's embarrassment.

Finally knocked out of her stupor, Yang rushed forward to help her - but instead of boosting her up by one of her feet, like Blake had expected, the blonde pushed both hands against Blake's butt, throwing her up and over the wall with a small squeak of surprise. Thankfully, she was able to hang onto the wall long enough to somewhat gently drop herself down into the fresh pile of mud waiting on the other side.

Yang flipped over the wall a few seconds later, face burning just as red as Blake's must be.

"I could have just given you a leg up, huh," the blonde said in embarrassment, causing Blake to burst into laughter.

"Naw, that was much better."

"But look! We made it!" Yang gestured behind Blake towards the finish line thirty yards away, undoubtedly trying to divert attention away from her most recent blunder.

They jogged the last remaining steps and Blake could finally start to feel her muscles protesting the amount of activity she put them through today. Her arms in particular were screaming at her from all of the climbing and crawling around on the ground.

Thankfully, waiting for them on the opposite side of the finish line was a table filled with cups of water - along with some of the most adorable adoption dogs who were all eagerly saying hello to all of the race participants.

"So...first mud run?" Yang asked after downing most of her cup of water in a single gulp, pausing for a few seconds to kneel down and pet an extra energetic terrier who made his way over to her.

Blake nodded while drinking her own cup, currently too thirsty to take a second to respond with words.

"You did great though. And you _look_ fantastic."

She glanced down at herself, finding not an inch of her body that wasn't covered in a thick layer of brown. She had to let out a laugh at how ridiculous they both looked; even the stick-on numbers they had been given earlier were unreadable.

"If this is your idea of looking fantastic, I'm surprised you haven't show up on more magazine covers wearing this."

"I've tried, but the mud just doesn't photograph very well," Yang replied as she stood up, looking at Blake with eyes twinkling in amusement.

After sharing a laugh, Blake gave Yang another smile.

"Thank you - for bringing me today. I had a lot of fun. Although my body will certainly hate me for this tomorrow…"

Yang laughed, but her smile said that she was thrilled Blake had enjoyed herself.

"So, does this mean you'll come with me next year?"

The question was innocent and unassuming - and from the radiant smile on Yang's face, the blonde hadn't even recognized the weight of it.

But Blake blushed when she answered, imagining what another year with this girl would be like.

"Sure, I'll come next year."

The two of them spent the next few moments saying hello to nearly every one of the adoption animals at the event, while chatting with various other participants who wanted photographs or autographs from Yang. Of course, the blonde was completely willing to satisfy any request asked of her, except for the exceedingly brazen man who asked for a kiss. He was rather coldly shot down by the actress, much to Blake's approval.

And now that the event was winding down, the two of them were walking back across the 'parking lot' to Yang's car.

"Are you sure we shouldn't change or...shower or something?" Blake asked a second time, looking down at the now dried mud that was flaking off of her whenever she moved. "I don't want to fill your car with dirt."

"Don't worry about that! I'll just have it cleaned tomorrow," Yang answered easily, waving one hand in the air to dismiss any of Blake's concerns. "It's just dirt, after all…"

She smiled, grateful that Yang wasn't super concerned about keeping her vehicle in immaculate condition.

When the car came into view, she heard a small cough from beside her - making her to turn to find Yang looking slightly nervous while at the same time trying appear confident.

"So...uh...did I earn that good morning kiss yet?"

Blake's eyes widened at the same time the butterflies in her stomach came back to life - not having expected the request.

Stopping in front of the driver's side door, she somehow managed to gather enough nerve to lean forward and give Yang a tender kiss on the lips - the feeling sending waves of energy pulsating through her veins just like it had yesterday.

Pulling only partly away so that she and Yang were still breathing the same air, she whispered, "Good morning."

When Yang's only response was the grin like a madwoman at her, she blushed and backed a little further away - abruptly realizing that they were still out in public.

"You know, you don't have to ask every time you want to kiss me…"

"Really?" Yang asked in surprise as Blake turned and started walking towards her side of the car.

"Really," she replied, turning back to give the blonde a reassuring smile only to find Yang's lips crashing into hers again. Her back quickly met the surface of the car as Yang pressed against her - kissing her much more passionately this time.

For a brief instant, she wondered how they were both covered in mud, yet Yang still smelled absolutely incredible. The thought instantly disappeared when she felt Yang's hand slide up from her hip, the movement slightly dragging up Blake's shirt and drawing the softest of moans from the back of her throat.

It was only when Yang pulled away did she realize that other people in the parking lot were now openly staring at them. Her face immediately blossomed into a full flush, but Yang didn't seem to notice or mind at all.

"You know, you might be the filthiest girl I've ever kissed in a parking lot," the blonde said with a pleased grin before walking around the car to open Blake's door for her.

"So you've kissed dirtier girls then?" she asked with a smirk, following the girl over to her seat.

"Nope! You're by far the filthiest," Yang answered proudly, before her eyes widened in horror.

"I mean! I'm obviously not saying you're filthy in _that_ way. W-well, I guess that maybe I wouldn't know that yet but -"

Blake giggled and silenced the girl with a quick kiss on the lips before sliding into the car with a smile.

She couldn't wait to do this again next year.


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh Pyrrha...how I love thee...**

**The weekend overload of cuteness continues...Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed/followed/favorited - I hope that you're enjoying the story as much as I am!**

* * *

><p>"So how have things been going with Blake?" Pyrrha asked as she neatly unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap.<p>

The small cafe they were currently seated at for lunch seemed to be packed to the seams today - with waiters and patrons rushing back and forth around them. But, the dull droning of people speaking and silverware clinking at least added a certain amount of privacy in their conversation. Not that Yang particularly cared who overheard her speaking about her newfound obsession.

"Things have been great!" she replied while unfolding her own napkin. "Really, really great…"

Her words trailed off with a happy smile as her thoughts drifted back to the writer, who was all Yang seemed to think about these days. But how could she not think about someone so beautiful, funny, smart...

Pyrrha let out a small giggle.

"I know - I saw."

Yang smiled in response until the words suddenly clicked in her mind, bringing her attention crashing back to her best friend in confusion.

"What do you mean, you _saw_?"

Pyrrha giggled again, pulling something out of her bag and tossing it down on the table between them. Yang's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the picture on the front page of the weekly gossip magazine.

"I mean, I literally saw," Pyrrha responded gleefully, gesturing one perfectly manicured hand towards the photograph.

"As your best friend, you can imagine how _shocked_ and _upset_ I am to have found out something like this from the tabloids," the model continued, voice dripping in fake hurt.

Yang ignored the comment and picked up the magazine to examine the front cover in greater detail.

She should probably be a _little_ more upset or disturbed that someone had taken a picture of their first kiss and printed it for the entire world to see…but she really wasn't. If anything, seeing the picture made her heart pound as if she were back in that moment – with the smell of Blake's shampoo invading her senses while the girl's soft lips pressed against her own. It had only lasted for a split second, but Yang could still remember the sensation so vividly.

And, even though this rarely seemed to happen, the picture actually _looked_ nearly as good as she imagined it. Blake's hand was lightly grasping the front of her shirt, while Yang's left arm hovered near the girl's waist, as if she were going to pull Blake closer at any second. Eyes closed, their lips were pressed together in a sweet kiss, not a greedy one.

Although…if Yang had _known _or even vaguely suspected that the kiss had been coming, things might have played out differently. Blake had caught her completely off guard - something that made Yang smile whenever she thought about it.

It was a great picture.

"Look at you; you're grinning like an idiot."

Yang instantly dropped the big grin as she ripped her attention away from the photo and back to the delighted model sitting in front of her.

"Can I keep this?" she asked, not waiting for an answer as she rolled it up and stuffed it into her own bag.

"Uh, sure, I guess you already are."

"Oh like you were going to keep it?" she replied with a laugh. "What were you planning on doing with this photo, Pyrrha? Nothing too weird, I hope."

Pyrrha scoffed, although a slight blush rose on her cheeks.

"I was going to keep it as a reminder of your betrayal."

Now it was Yang's turn to sputter in indignation. "Like you've never kept something a secret from me? Not that I was even keeping this a secret!"

"It should have been the first thing you brought up! And no, I have not keep a secret from you," Pyrrha emphatically replied, the answer making Yang raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Really," she responded flatly, giving the redhead one last chance to admit before Yang called her out.

"Really."

"I can't believe Pyrrha Nikos just lied to me!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air while overplaying her dismay by a factor of ten.

"When have I ever kept a secret from you?"

"Oh…I don't know…how about that time you hooked up with a certain _blonde_ talk show host _at my birthday party_?"

She paused while she watched Pyrrha turn a shade of red nearly matching her hair.

"I don't know what you're…"

"Oh just admit it, Pyrrha!" Yang cut the girl off with a grin. "I saw you two together, getting it on in _my room_ - but you never told me about it."

Pyrrha tapped one finger softly against the table, clearly deep in thought over how to proceed now that the tables had been turned.

"Ok," she finally said. "You're right. I kept that a secret from you; and you failed to mention this kiss. I think the two of those should cancel out, yes?"

Yang laughed, nodding her head.

"Yeah, those cancel out."

"Good," Pyrrha replied happily as she finally set in on her meal. "She's very pretty, by the way."

Yang couldn't stop the idiot sized grin from returning to her face at the compliment.

"She's so much more than just pretty though…she's smart, funny, playful, serious….all at the same time. She doesn't care about fame…she makes fun of me more than a little bit…but I love every second of it."

"I don't think I've ever heard you gush about someone so much," Pyrrha observed.

"That's because I don't think I've ever liked someone so much," Yang responded honestly, narrowing her eyes slightly when she thought about the truth behind that statement.

"So…when do I get to meet her?"

"Uh…I'm not sure…a few weeks, maybe? She has to go out of town in a couple of days for work. We're going to grab dinner tomorrow night before she leaves…" Yang's voice trailed off when she noticed Pyrrha shaking her head.

"What?"

"Change your plans – you're having dinner tomorrow at my place instead."

"Uh…no we're not," Yang responded as if it were the most ludicrous idea in the world.

"Yes, you are."

"Why on earth would I agree to that?"

"Because - one, I'm your best friend and I want to meet this girl before you fall madly in love with her."

Yang couldn't help thinking that it might already be a little too late for that, but allowed Pyrrha to continue.

"And two, because you owe me."

Yang let out a loud laugh at that assumption.

"_Owe_ you? What on earth do I owe you for?" she asked incredulously.

Pyrrha stared straight across the table at her, expression serious.

"Last summer – my show in Atlas."

"Oh."

Yang instantly stopped laughing, opting to smile apologetically instead.

"Yes '_oh_'," Pyrrha repeated, not looking at all amused by the memory.

"Uh…so if I do this…then we're even, right?" Yang asked hopefully.

"Then we can _discuss_ being even," Pyrrha replied with a small smirk. She knew that she had Yang exactly where she wanted her. And Yang knew that she did need to start making that unfortunate event up to Pyrrha, eventually…

"Ok…but! I'm not going to force her to come. If she says that she doesn't want to, then you can't say I didn't try, deal?"

"Absolutely," Pyrrha replied, thankfully being very reasonable when it came to the reasonable stipulations Yang added. "But…you have to call her right now – so that I can make sure you don't try to convince her out of coming."

Yang scrunched up her nose in disappointment. Of course Pyrrha knew her way too well to let her call Blake in private…

She slowly reached back into her bag and pulled out her phone, selecting Blake's contact information before lifting the device up to her ear.

"I don't like you, by the way," she hissed towards Pyrrha, sticking out her tongue like a child while the phone began ringing.

Pyrrha only laughed at her words, knowing that Yang was in no way being serious.

"Hello?"

Yang's heart nearly caught in her throat when Blake answered the phone. Something about hearing the girl's voice always ratcheted her pulse up several notches.

"Hey, Blake," she replied, feeling a smile creep onto her face even though she couldn't even see the girl on the other end of the line. "So I'm here having lunch with Pyrrha and she was…kind…enough to invite us both over for dinner at her place tomorrow night. I know that we had plans to go out, but if you're ok with it…we could do that, instead…"

She paused for a brief second before panic began to set in. It seemed _way_ too early for Blake to be meeting her friends, after all.

"I mean, only if you want to! And are completely comfortable with it. You totally don't have to at all, so don't feel pressured or anything. It was actually just more of an idea than anything. I can totally blow her off, no problem."

The words flew like missiles from her mouth as she tried to undo whatever damage she might have caused with the suggestion in the first place.

"Yang."

She froze when she heard her name, ignoring the head shaking Pyrrha was aiming her way.

"Yeah?" she asked, voice nearly a whisper.

"I think it sounds like a great idea."

"You…you do?" she asked in dismay. Pyrrha grinned in pleasure when she heard Yang's aghast question, knowing that the conversation had just turned in her favor.

"Yes, it sounds like fun," Blake replied sincerely. "And…I'm sure that she'll have some great stories to tell me…"

Yang could practically _hear_ Blake's smirk coming from the other side of the line.

"Ohh…no…I don't think she'll be doing _that_," Yang replied with a nervous laugh, shooting Pyrrha a glare that the model didn't understand. "But if it's really ok, then we'll go. I'll still come pick you up tomorrow night?"

"Yes, I'll see you then."

"See ya!" Yang replied happily, voice far more high pitched than normal. Pyrrha laughed at the same time Blake giggled at her before the call clicked off.

"So…what should I have made for dinner?" Pyrrha asked with a smile.

Yang gave a heavy sigh – resigning herself to her new fate.

"Whatever you'd like…she seems to really like fish though."


	10. Chapter 10

**More cuteness ensues...**

**To everyone reading this, I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Valentine's Day!**

* * *

><p>"Hey, Charlie!"<p>

She waved to the security guard as soon as she stepped into the now familiar lobby of Blake's building. He gave her a big smile, standing from his chair and walking around the front of his desk to greet her.

"Miss Xiao Long...to what do I owe the pleasure today?"

"I'm here to pick up Blake," she responded after shaking the man's hand cheerfully.

"Ah, do remind me to thank her for bringing you into my life," he replied teasingly while stepping back to his desk to page Blake's apartment.

Even though she wasn't necessarily thrilled about the two of them having dinner tonight with Pyrrha, she was absolutely elated to be seeing Blake again. Butterflies were already flitting around her stomach in anticipation and her palms were growing embarrassingly clammy.

If this was what it was going to feel like every single time they saw each other...well, she was going to die quite early from a heart attack, most likely.

"What will you two be doing this evening?" Charlie asked cordially while taking his seat once again. Yang hopped onto his desk, swinging her feet lightly through the air while they both waited for Blake to appear.

"Oh, you know, just dinner," she answered easily. "Trying not to humiliate myself too much."

He let out an amused laugh.

"Does that happen often?"

"Much more than you would expect - especially when she's around."

Yang couldn't help chuckling at her own misfortune when it came to making a fool out of herself in the author's presence. It definitely wasn't a bad thing though - it reminded her that Blake brought out a side of her that no one else was able to. She just wished that that side of her didn't insist upon putting her foot in her mouth every few minutes.

Her thoughts were diverted the instant she heard the soft 'ding' of the elevator arriving at the ground floor. Her eyes shot to the doors, waiting on bated breath for her date to appear.

When Blake stepped out into the lobby, Yang felt her jaw hit Charlie's desk in awe.

Blake looked _amazing_. Like, off the charts, frontpage, drop dead _gorgeous_. She was wearing a brilliant white button up shirt paired with a very nice pair of black slacks. Both items seemed simple, but fit the girl perfectly - highlighting all of the girl's best features in the most appealing way possible. Yang could hardly keep her eyes -

"Miss Xiao Long…"

She shot to her feet with a big smile when Charlie poked her lightly in the back with his pen.

"H-hey Blake!" she said, not failing to notice the small smirk threatening the edges of the author's lips. "You look...wow - so great."

"Thank you," Blake replied bashfully, the softest of blushes appearing on her cheeks. "Although I'm sure I look nowhere near as great as you do."

"Then you're not seeing what I'm seeing."

She stepped closer to the girl and picked up one of Blake's hands in her own - lifting it up to her lips to place a soft kiss on the girl's knuckles.

She quickly released Blake's hand when she realized just how tacky of a gesture she had made, feeling her own cheeks light up in embarrassment. What was she, a gentleman from last century?

"S-so uh...are you ready to go?" she asked hastily, pointing towards the front door where her car was parked and waiting.

When Blake took a deep breath, Yang realized that the girl might actually be nervous. Which was probably one of the most adorable things Yang had ever seen.

"Of course," Blake still responded with a collected smile, forever cool under pressure.

Grasping Blake's hand, she led her out the front doors, making sure to wave goodbye to Charlie as they made their exit. Not more than a minute later, they were on the road for the short drive to Pyrrha's apartment.

"Pyrrha lives in that new tower they built just by the river - have you seen it?" Yang asked while they wound their way through the streets.

"Oh, uh...yes, I believe so."

Yang risked a quick glance over at the girl, who was subconsciously biting her lip while peering out the window intently.

So, this was what Blake looked like when she was nervous…

So cute…

"Don't worry. She's not as scary as she looks on all those billboards," she joked. "Actually, she's a lot smaller than those pictures are - miniscule, really, compared to them."

When she heard a soft giggle from the passenger seat, she smiled.

"See? It won't be so bad to meet her though, right? We're just...hanging out with one of my friends!"

Yang tried to sound optimistic, but she was very willing to cancel on Pyrrha and pay the consequences if Blake really was too uncomfortable to meet the girl tonight.

"Most people have normal friends - not world famous supermodels," Blake replied coyly. "And with the two of you together in the same room...I probably should have brought sunglasses to avoid being blinded by all the beauty."

Yang couldn't help laughing at the image of Blake sitting at the dinner table in shades while Pyrrha and her ate dinner. At least Blake was making jokes though - that was a good sign.

"You do realize that you look amazing though, right?" she asked, sneaking one more peek across the car. "Like, really _really_ amazing. I've never seen Pyrrha look anywhere _near_ that good - and she's a model."

She hoped that her words would convince Blake that she _did_ look incredible and could definitely hold her own in a room with Pyrrha. In fact, Yang probably should have worn a bib from how much she was going to be drooling over the girl all evening.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yang caught a glimpse of a smile and knew that her words had at least had some positive effect.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can tell you some of her most embarrassing secrets," she offered, making the turn off the main street to pull up to the valet in front of Pyrrha's building.

The sound of Blake's laughter was like music to her ears as she stepped out of the car and handed her keys to the valet, eyes meeting Blake's across the roof of the car while they prepared to head inside.

"I think I'd rather hear some of _your_ embarrassing secrets than hers," the girl answered with a smile, amber eyes twinkling mischieviously.

Yang felt her cheeks heat up with a flush while she guided Blake towards the front door.

"Well, she certainly knows some of those…"

Even though Yang was flushed with embarrassment over the idea of Blake hearing some of her...less than perfect...stories...if her embarrassment made Blake happy, then she was willing to tell the girl every single mistake she'd ever made in her life.

Maybe not all at once, though - she did still want to date the girl, after all.

The doorman waved Yang through the front lobby when he saw her - recognizing her from the many times she had passed through these doors to visit her best friend. Making their way to the elevator, Yang grasped one of Blake's hands as soon as the doors had closed.

"She's going to love you," she whispered one more time for reassurance, even though she wasn't sure if Blake still needed it or not. "And if she doesn't, I'll disown her."

Blake laughed as the elevator doors slid back open and they stepped out into the hallway in front of Pyrrha's door.

"Well, I certainly hope you don't have to disown _anyone_ today," she commented, allowing Yang to lead her by the hand to Pyrrha's door.

"I would do it though!"

Yang grinned at the giggle Blake let out while she rang the buzzer to the right of the door.

Seconds later the door swung inward, revealing a nicely dressed Pyrrha Nikos standing in front of them. Yang was happy to see that Pyrrha hadn't gone all out in her outfit - wearing a nice pair of dark jeans and a red blouse that went perfectly with her red hair.

"I see someone has already had a positive influence on your timeliness," Pyrrha directed towards Yang with a grin before extending a hand towards Blake.

"Blake, it's very nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you."

Yang felt her cheeks darken while the two of them shook hands.

"'So much?'" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow at Yang.

"Enough to be horribly embarrassing for her," Pyrrha clarified with a giggle, much to Yang's mortification.

And, just like that, Blake's nerves seemed to disappear as she let out a laugh.

"N-not _too_ much though! I mean, I've only talked about you...an appropriate amount," Yang stuttered in her defense, causing both Pyrrha and Blake to laugh even harder and her blush to deepen.

"Come on in," Pyrrha finally said, mercifully putting an end to Yang's floundering while gesturing for both of them to follow her through the doorway.

Blake stepped inside first and Yang followed, making sure to pull the door shut behind her.

"Wow."

That was all Blake said while looking around the front entrance to Pyrrha's home - which opened into a large, spacious living room that was immaculately decorated. All of the furniture was white, with dark mahogany wood that seemed to pair perfectly together. Combined with the classy pictures hung on the walls, the entire area emitted a sophisticated charm.

Yang could remember being equally impressed when she had first seen Pyrrha's home. At least, before she had learned that…

"She had an interior designer do it," she whispered to Blake, making sure to say it loudly enough for Pyrrha to overhear.

"Thank you!" Pyrrha responded genuinely to Blake before turning to Yang with a glower. "And thank _you_ for that."

Yang laughed, shrugging her shoulders with a smile.

"Hey, credit where credit is due, Pyrrha! I will say that you _know _a spectacular designer!"

Pyrrha rolled her eyes and Blake giggled at their banter, giving Yang more confidence that the evening wouldn't be as uncomfortable as she had originally anticipated.

"On the other hand, I decorated my apartment all by myself!" she added boastfully, knowing that her statement would immediately draw a response from the redhead.

"And that's why it looks like a ten year old lives there," Pyrrha replied, batting her eyes innocently while Yang shook her head with a laugh.

"Come on, let's eat - the food's ready."

They followed Pyrrha from the living room into the kitchen and dining room area, which was just as impressive as the entryway had been. Every little decoration seemed to fit into a grand color scheme that ran throughout the entire apartment.

Of course, Yang hardly noticed the familiar decorations since she was much more intent upon the raven haired girl walking in front of her.

"If you want to take a seat, I'll bring out the rest of the food."

They did as Pyrrha directed, taking seats at the large dining room table that could have easily accommodated eight people. There were already place settings where they were going to sit at one end, surrounded by several different dishes piled high with an array of steaming food.

"Everything looks incredible," Blake said as the two of them sat down at the table.

"She had it catered," Yang whispered behind her hand right just as Pyrrha walked back into the room with another dish held in her hands.

"Thank you!" the redhead replied happily. "I would say that I made it myself, but I know Yang already told you that it was catered."

Yang blushed. "I said nothing of the sort!"

Pyrrha just laughed, knowing her far too well to fall for such an obvious lie.

"Oh, it's fine - I can't cook to save my life," she admitted while setting down the plate in front of them. "But I'm fortunate to be _know _people who can!"

Yang and Blake both laughed while Pyrrha gestured amicably towards the table.

"Help yourselves," she directed before she began filling her own plate with food.

A comfortable silence broken only by the sound of clinking utensils enveloped them for the next few moments while they set in on the spectacular food. Yang made sure to shoot Pyrrha a wink when she saw Blake casually find and pick out the largest piece of tuna on the tray.

"So, Blake - Yang mentioned that you're going to be traveling for work tomorrow. Going anywhere exciting?"

"Ah...I'm going to be spending several days in Mistral. Since my new book was released recently, my manager signed me up to go on some talk show that's filmed there. And while I'm there I'll be going to some book signings, as well."

"Book signings...I'm very fond of those now!" Yang interjected with a grin. "I need to fit some more of those into my schedule."

"Yes, I'm sure other authors will be just as thrilled to have you ask them out at their book signings," Blake replied deadpan, causing Yang's eyes to widen in horror.

"No, no! I meant _your_ book signings! Not just random -"

She put her head in her hands when Pyrrha and Blake both started laughing at her attempt to cover for herself.

"You two are the worst," she muttered through her fingers, only looking up when Blake patted her gently on the back - finding the girl smiling at her in amusement.

"Have you ever been on television before?" Pyrrha asked, directing attention back towards Blake.

"A couple of times...for other books. It's rather nerve wracking, really - being on live TV in front of a live audience…"

"Oh it's not so bad!" Yang quickly piped up, with Pyrrha nodding her head in agreement. "And live TV is way better because you only have to do one take!"

"Easy for you to say - you two practically live in front of cameras. I live behind my computer screen," Blake replied.

Yang and Pyrrha both exchanged glances before turning back to Blake with thoughtful expressions. It was a little difficult for her to remember what it had felt like the first time she had had to go in front of a camera...but she was sure it had probably been a little weird and scary.

"You should try to pretend that you and the host are the only ones there. That helps with some nerves," she suggested helpfully.

"Yes, and tell yourself that every time you move, you lose one life - and you only get five lives for the entire show," Pyrrha added, earning confused glances from both Yang and Blake.

"What? It keeps you from fidgeting too much," she added with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What happens if I lose all of my lives?" Blake asked curiously, causing Pyrrha to look up from her plate and bite her lip in thought.

"Oh, I don't know - I've never gotten past four. But I'm sure something awful happens!"

Yang glared at her friend - not wanting the answer to make Blake feel any more nervous than she already was.

"You probably just end up owing your girlfriend a nice dinner or something," she added onto Pyrrha's comment, surprised when Blake began laughing beside her.

"Oh you're right - that _is_ awful," the author replied, sending Yang a smile before sharing another giggle with Pyrrha. "But I'll try both those things - thank you."

A pattern began to emerge over the course of their meal - one where Yang was constantly flushed in embarrassment while the other two giggled at her unfortunate choice of words. But she honestly couldn't care less - she was having the best time in the world. She was actually a little disappointed when she noticed the time; their plates long since abandoned in the favor of continuing their conversation.

Pyrrha glanced at the clock at nearly the same moment Yang did, feeling that time had gotten completely away from them. She wouldn't have minded staying late into the night, but she did know that Blake needed to be up early to make her flight on time.

Pyrrha nodded in acknowledgment of the silent request Yang sent her and said, "This was great - I'm really glad that we decided to have dinner tonight."

"I'm surprised that Yang agreed to allow us to meet at all," Blake responded with another small chuckle.

"I will have to admit that I called in a favor in order to get this done," the redhead responded, sending Yang a smirk.

Yang shot back a serious look and tiny shake of her head in an attempt to get the girl to stop talking, which Blake unfortunately noticed.

"There has to be a story there…" she said slowly, making Pyrrha laugh even harder while Yang glared at her, face flushing crimson at the memory.

"Oh, there most certainly is!"

"Which we will _not_ be discussing tonight!" she cut in, hearing an edge of alarm in her voice at the prospect of telling Blake _that_ story so soon. She was still struggling to make a good impression, as it was!

But Blake placed one hand over Yang's on top of the table, drawing her attention in order to give her a reassuring gaze.

"I'd really like to hear," she said with a smile.

Yang couldn't help but to completely melt into the girl's eyes, feeling all of her reservations disappear - replaced by the desire to grant whatever wish Blake made.

If this was all it took to convince Yang to do something...well, she was never going to be able to say 'no' to the girl…

"Ok," she agreed, turning back to give Pyrrha another glare while smoothly flipping her palm upwards so that she was now holding Blake's hand in her own.

"You can tell her - but don't embellish it like you usually do."

Pyrrha looked at her with an expression frozen somewhere between surprise and amusement at what she had just witnessed. But, shaking her head, the model grinned as she began telling her story.

"Well, I invited Yang to travel with me to Atlas last year - I was invited to be in the Atlas Fashion Show, you see. The actual event went very well and after the show, we were fortunate to be invited to attend a dinner hosted by the Atlas government - filled with dignitaries and politicians, including the governor and the head general."

"The governor, by the way, is like a thousand years old," Yang added, earning herself a look that made her close her mouth and gesture for Pyrrha to continue her story.

"Anyway...dinner was going splendidly - I was having a wonderful conversation with the general's wife, who is a truly magnificent lady - when I heard a loud commotion coming from the hallway. I can still vividly remember the sinking feeling in my stomach when I realized that Yang was no longer sitting at the table...and neither was the governor's young and amazingly beautiful fiancée…"

Blake turned to look at Yang, mouth hanging open. Yang can already feel her face steaming in humiliation when the two girls directed their full attention her way.

"You didn't."

"I didn't know she was engaged!" Yang instantly shouted in her defense.

"They introduced her at the beginning of the meal!" Pyrrha shouted back, letting a small giggle slip past her lips that belied her presumed anger.

"Well...I wasn't paying attention during the introductions because a pretty girl was making eyes at me…" she muttered unhappily. "And she kissed me first!"

She was beyond embarrassed and a little horrified about what Blake might think about her now that she had heard that story. It didn't exactly pin her in the best light.

So she was pleasantly surprised when Blake started laughing - and absolutely elated when she felt the small, reassuring squeeze of her hand.

"What happened next?"

Yang looked at Blake in shock before turning back to Pyrrha with a grin that told the redhead she could continue.

"Well...the governor was _beyond_ furious, of course, and threatened to throw us both into prison."

"But they didn't!" Yang added.

"No - we're just never allowed back in Atlas," Pyrrha added dryly.

Blake burst out laughing while Pyrrha fought to keep a scowl on her face.

"Never?"

"Never."

"No, not never!" Yang answered, trying once again to contain the damage. "Just until that guy is no longer in charge - and, realistically, he's going to die in like ten years or something, he's so old."

"Oh great…ten years," Pyrrha replied with a roll of her eyes.

"You don't even like Atlas!" Yang exclaimed. "What did you call it again? 'Smelly and crowded?'"

"But I might still like to go there sometime!"

"Well you can! In ten years," she responded frankly - unable to resist letting out a giggle of her own at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"She really did kiss me first though," she said, turning once again towards Blake.

"I can believe that - you do seem to have that effect on people," the girl responded bashfully, a light blush creeping onto her cheeks.

Grinning at the sight, Yang's thoughts were immediately pulled back to the memory of their own first kiss. A soft cough drew her attention away from Blake, realizing that she had been staring just a bit too intently.

"Did you have a lot you need to get done before tomorrow, or would you like some tea?" Pyrrha asked politely, waving one hand towards the kitchen where the tea was waiting to be made.

"Oh, wow it got late," Blake said after glancing at the clock, turning back to Yang. "I really should get home - I actually haven't even packed yet. But I can always take a taxi if you'd-"

Yang held up a hand to stop Blake from finishing that sentence.

"I'm leaving with you, of course," she said, waving one hand dismissively in Pyrrha's direction. "Pyrrha and I already spend enough time together."

"Oh thanks," the redhead responded with a laugh as the three of them stood from the table. "I'll be sure to remember that the next time you're complaining about how little we get to hang out when I'm working."

Holding her hands up in the shape of a heart, Yang mouthed 'but I love you' to her friend, laughing when Pyrrha shook her head in response and led them back to the front door.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to come tonight, Blake," Pyrrha said, opening the door and letting them step outside. "It really was wonderful to finally meet you."

"The same to you - and thank you so much for the amazing dinner and even better stories," Blake responded, drawing one more happy laugh from the redhead before she began making her way to the elevator doors.

When Yang moved to follow, a hand on her arm forced her to stop.

"Hold on a second, Yang."

She turned back to Pyrrha in confusion, noticing Blake glance between the two of them before politely continuing her walk to the elevator to give them space to speak in private.

"So...I love her."

Yang beamed at her friend's admission.

"Good! Because...I think I do too," she whispered quietly so that Blake couldn't overhear her.

Deep down, she knew that she was already in love with Blake, but didn't want to fully admit that out loud just yet. Not if there was any chance the writer didn't feel the same way about her.

"Try not to mess it up," Pyrrha teased, making Yang playfully swat at her shoulder.

"Please...I'm not letting her go," she said, finally walking away to join Blake while giving Pyrrha a wink and a wave goodbye. "Thanks for ordering dinner!"

She grinned when Pyrrha scowled down the hallway at her, laughing while she and Blake stepped into the elevator together.

"So? What did you think?" she asked curiously as the elevator doors slid shut.

"She's really, really great," Blake answered, golden eyes locking onto her own. "I had a wonderful time - thank you for...agreeing...to invite me."

When Blake smiled at her, Yang couldn't turn away - her eyes drinking in every speck of light shining through Blake's gaze.

How had she been so lucky to find someone like Blake?

"She is great," her mouth responded for her automatically while her mind continued to praise the high heavens for allowing this angel to walk into her life. "So uh...when do I get to meet your friends?"

Blake let out a laugh at the question while they made their way towards the valet.

"Do you want to meet my friends now?" she asked, eyes twinkling at Yang in amusement.

"Well...yeah! I mean, you met Pyrrha so...unless you don't want me to meet them, I guess."

Blake shook her head and placed one hand reassuringly on Yang's shoulder.

"Of course you can - I'll make sure to set something up when I'm back in town."

Yang grinned at the girl before noticing her car being returned to them via the valet, marking their departure from Pyrrha's building.

The drive back to Blake's building was filled with more teasing - mostly on Blake's part, since the author was now loaded with more than a few of Yang's most embarrassing stories.

When they made it back to the building and stepped into the lobby, Yang was prepared to say their goodbyes and head back outside. That was, until Blake's hand found her own and drew her to the elevator doors. In no time at all, they had gotten out of the elevator and walked down the hallway until they were standing in front of an unassuming apartment door.

"So is this…" Yang began to ask.

"Yup," the author responded plainly. "I just thought...we didn't have to say goodbye in front of everyone."

"Ah…"

Yang could feel the awkward energy settle upon them, still holding hands while Blake fiddled with a set of keys in her other hand. Yang knew that she was stalling - content with lingering in the hallway rather than being forced to say goodbye.

It was only going to be a few days...but still...Yang had just found her - and now she was going away?

"Do you need me to drive you to the airport or anything?" she offered hopefully.

"That's ok...my flight is really early and I already have a car lined up," Blake responded with a smile. "Thank you for offering though."

The answer was slightly disappointing, but Yang understood that Blake didn't want to inconvenience her. Of course, the author probably didn't realize that Yang would _love_ to spend just a few more minutes with her before she left.

"Ok then...uh...I'll see you in a few days? I mean - assuming you still want to see me then?"

"Of course, I'll want to see you as soon as I get back," Blake replied with a chuckle.

Yang brightened up immensely at Blake's words.

"Then I'll be here waiting for you!"

Blake smiled - one of those smiles that made Yang's heart catch in her chest and her breath come out in uneven puffs of air.

"You'd better be," Blake replied with a sly smile.

And Yang couldn't stop herself - she pulled Blake in for a kiss, pouring all of her feelings through their connected lips as she tried to explain to the girl just how much she was going to miss her. Her fingers wrapped themselves within raven colored locks while she felt a lithe hand slide to a rest on her hip, Blake's fingertips directing Yang closer with little force at all.

It was only when her brain began registering a lack of oxygen was she forced to pull away.

"I think...that might hold me over…" she whispered breathlessly, finding Blake's eyes keenly searching her own while their faces were mere inches apart - their jagged breaths colliding together midway between the space separating them.

"You might need one more...for the drive home."

Yang grinned at the comment before their lips crashed back together.

She really loved this girl.


	11. Chapter 11

Traveling never used to bother her much.

True, she didn't really like being without the comfort and familiarity of her own home, but she had never found herself _pining_ to be back there. Plus, her trips were always short, so there really was no reason to do anything other than enjoy the change of scenery for a few days.

Which is what made her current mood somewhat disconcerting.

Mistral was _really_ not where she wanted to be right now - she wanted to be back in Vale.

But there was no helping that right now...she had a job to do, after all.

As various assistants rushed in every direction around her, checking and double checking each tiny bit of equipment in preparation for the show, she tried her best to focus on the task at hand. The minutes were steadily disappearing until her most dreaded part of this trip - the live interview.

"Nervous?"

Startled out of her thoughts by the question, Blake turned to find the show's star standing right behind her.

The young man was tall and lean, with striking blue hair and a smile so bright she could swear it winked at her at the same time he did.

Neptune Vasilias...she only knew of him from the (very brief) research she had done when her agent had informed her of this obligation. She hadn't uncovered why his hair was blue...or why he was wearing goggles in every single picture...but she did know the singular word that seemed to follow the boy everywhere.

Womanizer.

And with his smile and aura, she completely understood where those rumors had come from. In her life, she had only met one person with a smile more hypnotizing.

Thankfully, that one person just so happened to be her very own girlfriend.

"Just a little bit," she answered his question honestly.

"Hey, don't worry about it - it's just you and me out there, right?"

"Neptune! We're on in two!"

Neptune gave her another wink before striding onto the set for the beginning portion of the show. But his words had reminded her of what Yang had suggested just days earlier at dinner. There was nothing to be nervous about - she was just going to be having a short conversation with Neptune about her book.

Although she seriously questioned how much reading the boy did in his free time…

She watched the hustle and bustle behind the scenes as the show got underway - various segments coming and going. Her portion was going to be near the end. And the closer it came, the more her nerves started springing up, try as she might to keep Yang's advice in the forefront of her mind.

"Miss Belladonna?"

Turning towards the voice, she found an assistant rushing towards her carrying a full bouquet of white lilies.

"These were just delivered for you! They said it was urgent to give them to you right now."

Blake accepted the flowers with a 'thank you,' quickly locating the card and pulling it out. She had a sneaky suspicion who they might be from - which had her heart beating like a locomotive.

Even more surprised to find that the card had been handwritten, her face flushed when she read the message.

_Dear Blake, _

_I've heard this Neptune guy is pretty hot - but let's not forget who really gets your heart racing. Knock 'em dead._

_(And don't be nervous - you'll do amazing.)_

_3 Yang_

Her face reached newfound shades of deep red when she finished the card, glancing around her as if the people passing by might have read its contents as well.

But even though her face was flushing uncontrollably, she couldn't stop smiling. Setting the flowers down by her belongings, she pulled out her phone and sent Yang a quick message - trying to convey some annoyance in her words so that the blonde wouldn't know how immeasurably delighted the gesture had just made her.

_Got your gift - I might have to strangle you for the card though - in the nicest way possible :)_

She had hardly pressed 'send' before her phone buzzed with an incoming message.

_Like asphyxiation? I don't know if I'm into that - but I could be for you ;)_

Her cheeks reverted to dark crimson at the replying text, just in time for another assistant to motion in her direction.

_Time for me to go...Thank you though_, she typed hastily before shoving her phone away and making her way to the side of the stage. Before she knew it, she was walking onto the set and into the bright lights - with a smile still pulling at her lips while her thoughts lingered upon the blonde.

How had Yang known that lillies were her favorite flowers?

Smiling briefly at the audience that was applauding her entrance, she made her way to the seat in the center of the stage that had been designated for her. She shook Neptune's hand before they both took their seats and the viewers quieted down.

"So, Blake, your newest book just went on sale and has had really great reviews so far. From what I've been told, it's been flying off the shelves recently - can you tell us more about it?" Neptune asked, gesturing casually to a copy that he had resting on the table in front of them.

"Ah yes...It's called _The Empire of All_ and is a crime/mystery drama set in present day Vale."

"I must admit that I started reading it and fell in love with the characters - Jayce in particular - I really, _really_ felt for him," Neptune said.

Blake felt her eyebrows raise at Neptune's comment - surprised that he had actually read part of her book _and _that he had chosen the villain to sympathize with. But she tried to brush off her surprise and continue the conversation.

"Yes, the characters in the story are all greatly impacted by a vicious crime that occurs in a small, closely knit neighborhood. There's a great deal of mistrust, false accusations, and gossip."

Neptune laughed and leaned forward, his new posture suggesting that she had just said something he really liked.

"Speaking of gossip - there's been quite a lot of that going around about your personal life recently."

Ah...so that's what he really wanted to talk about...

"You've been linked recently with a certain actress that we all know and love - care to shed any light on that?"

She felt herself fidget uncomfortably, remembering to subtract one of her five lives for the movement.

"Yang and I met at a signing for _The Empire of All_ just recently in Vale. We started talking and have gone to some events together since then."

Her answer was cagey in an attempt to circumvent the subject altogether, but the gleaming look in Neptune's eyes told her that she wasn't going to be getting away from this one. He cared for this topic much more than for her book. And, admittedly, she did too.

"I believe the two of you have been spotted doing a _little_ more than just attending events together," he replied with a sly smile, clearly referring to the kiss that had been front page news.

Thankfully, Yang had told her at dinner that she could say anything she wanted, and Yang wouldn't mind. Knowing that she couldn't make a misstep that would result in Yang being angry with her certainly took a lot of the apprehension out of discussing the matter - which she would guess had been Yang's entire goal.

So, if this was what Neptune wanted to discuss...then that's what they would discuss. He had very limited time to get any information out of her, after all.

"Yes, that's because Yang and I are seeing each other now."

The excited whispers in the audience made her flinch, but she couldn't help feeling strangely satisfied saying the words out loud for everyone to hear.

"You're confirming that you and Yang Xiao Long are, in fact, an item?" Neptune asked, clearly elated to have gotten her to admit this on his show.

"Yes, we're dating," she stated firmly, feeling a smile appear without warning.

Hearing Neptune laugh, she turned her full attention back to him.

"Well...you just made a lot of men _and_ women very sad with that knowledge!"

She couldn't help laughing at his comment.

"Might you be one of those people, Neptune?" she asked playfully. Although, if she had to wager a guess, he was likely upset when _any_ woman became unavailable to him.

"I just might be!" he replied, laughing good naturedly at her tease while the audience did the same.

"But last question, I swear, before we wrap up for today," he said, flashing another one of those ultra megawatt smiles in her direction.

"What's something about Yang Xiao Long that we don't know?"

Blake pondered the question for a few moments. There were actually a _lot_ of things about Yang that people didn't know. The public perception of the actress seemed to be that she was nice, friendly, and, most importantly, attractive - but that didn't even begin to scratch the surface of the kind of person Yang truly was. She was smart, selfless, philanthropic, beautiful through-and-through, and somewhat of a goofball. The girl wasn't afraid to make a fool out of herself, and could make her feel like the most special person in the room with ease.

But, as greedy as Blake might sound, she didn't feel like sharing that side of Yang with the world just yet. For now, she wanted to keep that intimate knowledge just to herself.

A good answer came to her regardless, causing her to laugh at the memory.

"She really sucks at laser tag."

* * *

><p>Yang laughed, turning down the television when the show cut to commercials.<p>

She did suck at laser tag.

For as nervous as Blake had seemed before leaving Vale, Yang couldn't tell from the interview she had just seen. The author had seemed to be at ease and comfortable talking with Neptune, even if it had only been for a little while.

Neptune, on the other hand, was being a little too flirty for her taste. She would have to guess that all of the rumors about the boy were true...but Blake was nothing but cordial in return, so she didn't feel too bent out of shape about it. Mostly, she was just a tad jealous that the boy was with Blake right now while she was not.

Of course, she felt horrible that Blake had had to answer questions about her - the segment was supposed to be about Blake's book, after all. But, the girl had seemed to be in pretty good spirits when discussing her, and Yang couldn't help being quite pleased with her answers.

Maybe it was just her wishful thinking, but it had almost seemed like Blake was more excited to talk about her than about the book. But that couldn't possibly be true, could it?

When her phone started ringing, she practically lunged across the countertop to pick it up - hoping that it was who she hoped it would be.

"Hello?"

"Wow, you answered fast."

A grin plastered itself across her face at the familiar voice. Walking over to the sofa, she made herself comfortable before continuing the conversation.

"I uh...I was sitting really close to my phone," she fibbed, knowing that Blake didn't believe her in the slightest from the soft laugh she was now hearing.

"Were you watching?"

"Of course! And you were incredible, just like I knew you would be."

"All thanks to your help," Blake replied gratefully. "By the way...how did you know that lillies were my favorite flowers?"

She gave herself a mental high five at the question. She hadn't been sure what Blake's favorite flowers were when she had set out for the flower shop, but then she remembered a scene with lilies in _Sunflower_ that had been quite memorable. Blake had described the flowers in such great detail and so fondly...something had told Yang that those were the ones she should send.

"Oh you know...just a good guess," she answered instead, not wanting to give away her secret source of information just yet. "Did you like them?"

"I loved them - they're exquisite. The card, on the other hand…"

Yang burst out laughing, remembering what she had written down in the card for Blake.

"You know the best part? The sales clerk was being super flirty and I just _know_ that he read it as soon as I walked out of the store. I wish I could have seen his face…"

Blake's responding laugh was like music to her ears.

"Well...I hope you don't mind...but it seems like I just told everyone that we're officially dating."

Mind? Yang beamed at the memory of Blake confirming their relationship on live TV. How much more validation could one ask for?

"I don't mind at all! Of course, Glynda is going to blow a gasket, but what are agents for, anyway? I pay her to handle this stuff!"

Plus, it saved her from having to make it clear to everyone that she was no longer available. But the best part was that everyone would know that Blake was taken, too.

"Really? Good...I was a little worried that you might be upset…"

"Oh please, if it had been me, I would have answered far less eloquently. So I'm actually really glad that you did it."

Another laugh as Blake undoubtedly imagined just how Yang might make such an announcement.

"Oh, sorry Yang, I need to get going now," Blake suddenly said, sounding regretful that she had to cut their conversation short.

"That's ok - busy day?"

"Yeah, I have to run to a couple book signings and then maybe have a break this evening."

"Ah...dinner with Neptune, perhaps?"

She mentally kicked herself as soon as the question left her lips, realizing exactly how jealous it made her sound. But she just couldn't stop herself from asking...

Thankfully, Blake laughed off the question easily, putting her back at ease.

"No - although he did try to ask me out. Amazing too - I had _just_ announced that we were dating and he tried to ask me out anyway?"

The answer made her feel better in some ways, but made her blood boil in others. That blue haired, goggle wearing...who did he think he was? She tried to let out a laugh anyway, feeling it fall a little flatter than usual.

"Anyway, I have to go, but I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Absolutely. Have a great day!"

"You too."

Once the line had disconnected, she stared at her phone for several seconds, wishing that they were still talking. With a heavy sigh, she set the phone down on the coffee table and stretched her arms high over her head, feeling a yawn threatening to escape.

She had woken up far too early to make sure that she wouldn't miss the show this morning - which was shown even _earlier_ in Vale since it was filmed in Mistral. But since she was up, she might as well use the time to be somewhat productive.

Blake's job wasn't the only one that had decided to start back up and get in the way of them spending time together. Yang had her own work commitments beginning to reappear. Awards season was approaching, which meant she needed to remember to invite Blake to the Celicas - and she had just received the script for the third Dust movie, which would start shooting shortly.

The massive script was currently laying on the coffee table beside her phone. She had flipped through it once already - finding several scenes that she was not going to enjoy filming with Cinder _at all_, but other than that it seemed like it would be pretty fun movie to make.

So, she could be responsible and begin memorizing her part...or...she could delve further into the writing mind of Blake and hope to discover some more unintentional secrets. If Blake had written in her favorite flower, who knew what else was in there...

Grinning, she reached towards the coffee table and picked up her tablet - powering it on and picking up _Sunflower_ where she had left off.


	12. Chapter 12

**Another side character making a cameo in this chapter! I also wove a little thread of something into this story...see if you can't find it. Blake is a romantic, what can I say?**

* * *

><p>When the familiar elevator doors slid shut, she let out a sigh of relief.<p>

She was home.

After several long days of being whisked around from event to event, constantly receiving directions from strangers and having to meet thousands of new people, she was finally home. She could finally sleep in her own bed and eat at her own table.

But the _best_ part about being back in Vale was that soon she would get to see Yang again.

They had kept in near constant communication over the course of her trip via texts, emails, and phone calls, but it just wasn't the same as being together in person. Not when Blake found herself yearning terribly for the blonde's warm presence, or to see that goofy, embarrassed smile one more time.

When the elevator stopped at her floor and the doors opened, she rolled her suitcase out into the hallway, now just steps away from the blissful confines of her home. But she stepped into the hallway only to be confused when she noticed someone sitting on the ground in front of her door, patiently waiting for her.

That millisecond of confusion was instantly replaced with happiness when she realized that that someone was a gorgeous blonde she got to call her own.

"What are you doing here?" she called out, quickly closely the distance between them.

"I said I would be waiting for you when you got back!" Yang replied as she pushed herself up from the floor, a goofy grin flashing across her lips only to be quickly replaced by a nervous smile. "I...uh...hope that's ok…"

Dropping the bag that had been slung over her shoulder, she reached up and wrapped Yang in a long hug - feeling her energy steadily recharging through the girl's warmth. Pulling back slightly while still keeping her hands on Yang's shoulders, she gave the girl a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I missed you," she said softly, feeling her cheeks warm from saying the words out loud.

Butterflies appeared in her chest when she saw that grin light up Yang's face - the girl very clearly ecstatic with her admission.

"I've missed you too!" the blonde replied, giving Blake another hug and the quickest, most unsatisfying kiss on the lips before reaching down and picking up both of Blake's bags. "I'll help you take these inside?"

Trying to prevent her pout from appearing, she focused instead on unlocking the door, realizing that Yang had never been into her home before. This fact was only underscored by the way Yang looked around intently when they stepped inside, lilac eyes drinking in every detail she could find.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting company…" she said apologetically, noticing that the kitchen table was covered in a pile of papers she had abandoned when leaving.

"Don't be! This place is great. Very...you," Yang replied with a smile before carefully setting Blake's things next to the light blue sofa sitting in the middle of the living room.

"I thought you going to a club opening or something tonight?" she asked, suddenly remembering the conversation they had been having through text not too long ago.

"Yeah, that was tonight, but I bailed because I wanted to be here when you got back."

Yang didn't seem at all perturbed about missing her event just to be the first person Blake saw upon returning. And while Blake was beyond flattered that Yang had gone out of her way to make such an adorable gesture, she couldn't help feeling guilty that Yang was going to miss out just for her sake.

So, even though going to a club was...not really her thing…

"Why don't we go together?" she offered, knowing that it was the right decision the second she saw Yang's grin return full force.

"Really? You'd go with me?"

It might be too soon for her to say she would follow Yang's ray of sunshine to the ends of the earth, but that didn't make it less true.

"Really. I'd like to go with you."

"If it's not fun, we can totally bail. And if you get tired, I'll take you home early," Yang said in a rush, now practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Ok, let me just take a quick shower and change into something more appropriate?"

With Yang's nod of approval, she left the girl sitting on the sofa in favor of rushing to her bedroom to get ready as soon as possible. What took her the longest was deciding on what to wear. Settling upon a pair of her nicest jeans and an edgy black top that had been hanging in the very back of her closet for ages, she walked back into the living room.

She would probably never get used to the way Yang would stare at her whenever she wore a new outfit - as if the blonde had never seen something so exquisite in her life before. The expression always brought a heavy blush to her face and caused her to look away, setting her heart off on a series of unsteady beats. The blonde sure was poor at hiding her emotions...if she was trying to at all.

But she had a sneaky suspicion that she was getting to see the purest version of Yang there possibly could be. The thought only made her heart pound more painfully for the girl.

"You look...unbelievable…" Yang said as she stood from her seat and stepped closer to Blake, taking both of Blake's hands in her own while allowing her eyes to wander up and down.

She could feel her blush intensifying, but could see the soft blush dusting Yang's cheeks, as well.

She had missed this - this magnetic energy they seemed to share - an electric current that seemed to pass between them even when their hands weren't joined. It didn't feel like anything Blake had ever heard of before, making it nearly impossible to describe.

Somehow, they were connected - as if in another world, in another time, they had already spent an entire lifetime together. She couldn't escape the feeling that this was their reward for past hardships - a life where everything seemed to fit together perfectly, easily.

But that was probably just her over-romanticizing things again. She did have a bad habit of doing that...

"Are you ready to go?"

The question pulled her from her thoughts and back to this life - to the affectionate lilac gaze across from her.

"Just need one thing," she replied with a grin.

Quickly leaning forward, she gave Yang a kiss on the lips that lasted not more than a second before pulling away. She couldn't help smirking at the stunned expression on Yang's face, dropping the blonde's hands in order to retrieve her wallet from her bag.

"Tease," she heard called from behind her, making her let out a laugh.

"Just returning the favor," she replied, turning around to shoot Yang a playful wink - finding the blonde still standing in the same spot on the floor, shaking her head with a smile.

"Come on, let's go."

Waving Yang towards her, she knew she was in trouble when she saw the smirk on the blonde's face. She didn't know what to expect while she held the front door open for them to leave, but the girl definitely had _something_ in mind.

She was forced to take several steps backward when Yang walked directly at her, not making any attempt to actually walk through the open doorway. Her back met the wall a second later, allowing her no escape while Yang came into her space. The blonde put both of her hands on Blake's hips, the contact setting fire in her veins while the girl moved in.

Her eyes fluttered shut as she expected Yang's lips to meet her own, only for the blonde to alter her path at the last instant and end up gently ghosting her lips over Blake's ear - sending a shiver down her spine.

"I think...I'll drive."

She blinked in confusion at the words while Yang backed away from her, giving her a wink before walking out the door. Letting out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, she felt her face burst into flames in embarrassment - realizing that Yang had just handily beaten her at her own game.

Taking a deep breath in an effort to slow her rapidly beating heart, she shook her head and walked out into the hall - finding a grinning Yang Xiao Long giddily waiting for her.

"Gloating is unbecoming," she commented while pulling the door shut and making sure it had locked.

"Oh, _you're_ the one who'll be -"

"_Don't_! Don't finish that sentence," she said quickly, holding both hands up as her rampant blush instantly returned.

Yang burst into more laughter as they stepped into the arriving elevator. Blake could swear that her face was literally steaming in embarrassment. But when she felt a strong arm wrap comfortably around her waist, she couldn't help but to lean into Yang's embrace.

If this was, in fact, a reward they had somehow earned...she planned to enjoy every single second of it.

* * *

><p>"So how far away is this place?"<p>

"Not too far - it's just on the other side of the river."

Satisfied with the answer, Blake turned her attention back out the window, watching as the city lights of Vale flashed by.

That's when another set of flashing lights captured her attention in the side mirror.

"In too much of a hurry?" she asked, shaking her head when Yang noticed the lights in the rearview mirror and cursed under her breath.

"Don't worry, we're just going to have a nice conversation with a police officer before we get there!" the blonde replied coolly as she guided them to a stop on the side of the road. Blake had expected the girl to be a little more upset, but it seemed that this situation did little to fluster the blonde.

Rolling down her window, Yang waited for the officer to walk up to speak with her.

"Good evening, miss. Do you know how fast you were...going there?"

The man's words faltered when Yang leaned closer to the door so he could see her face - clearly recognizing the actress and realizing that this was not just another routine traffic stop.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Was I going a little too fast?"

Blake raised her eyebrows at Yang's tone, which was just...off. Too high-pitched and dripping in sugar, she wondered if this was what Yang's 'flirting' voice really sounded like.

"Ah...you were going just a _little_ over the speed limit…"

Now Blake was curious as to how much over Yang had been going. It hadn't _felt_ that fast, but the cop was obviously lying to make Yang feel better.

"I'm sorry...we were just headed to a party, you see, and are running a little late," Yang apologized, remorse drenching her tone before she brightened up considerably. "Oh, I know! Would you like to come too? We could always use another gentleman like yourself there."

Blake might not have been able to see Yang's expression, but she was positive the blonde was now batting those irresistible lilac eyes in his direction.

"Oh well...I'm still on duty...but thank you very much for the invitation," he responded, clearly thrown off by Yang's unexpected offer. "Well...I'll tell you what. I'll give you a warning this time, but please try to drive a little slower on your way there."

"Of course!"

When the officer returned to his patrol car, Yang turned to Blake with a proud grin on her face.

"See? Told you it wasn't a problem!" the blonde remarked happily, only for Blake to roll her eyes. "I've still never gotten a speeding ticket in my life!"

"Not surprising. I probably wouldn't give you a ticket either if you threw yourself at me," she commented dryly.

"Aww...Blake, are you jealous?"

"No!" responding haughtily, she could still feel the kernel of truth in Yang's words.

"You don't have anything to jealous about. The only person I'll ever be throwing myself at is you."

Amazingly, that statement made her feel better.

* * *

><p>Pulling up to the valet, she was surprised by how popular the place seemed to be. From the outside, it looked very posh and fancy - complete with the red velvet rope sectioning off a queue of anxiously waiting guests, a line of limousines that had already dropped off their celebrity guests, and cameramen standing along the sidewalk taking photographs.<p>

When the valet had opened her door, she stepped out of the car to be met by the bright flashes of many cameras shooting at once, clearly directed at the girl exiting the car behind her. Quickly walking around the front of the car, Yang grabbed her hand and led her to the front door - bypassing the line of anxious partygoers. The bouncer took one look at Yang and instantly waved them through.

The inside of the club was just as lavish as the exterior. Made up of two spacious stories, the downstairs predominantly featured a packed dance floor, with a bar and seating areas occupying the perimeter. The upstairs was ringed by a railing where Blake could see more people standing and watching the dancers below. Orange and chocolate seemed to be the prominent color scheme - for everything from the plush seats to the glassware coming out of the bar. Booming music was pouring out of speakers that must have been hidden everywhere - since she couldn't find them but could practically feel the music pulsing through her.

The grand opening already seemed to be in full swing since the place was packed. Thankfully, Yang didn't drop Blake's hand as they made their way towards the bar first.

It was clear to her why Yang had been invited to such an event - everyone around them noticed the girl when she passed by. Many people waved to her, and Blake could recognize a fellow actor or two - although she couldn't remember any names. But Yang was clearly the star - made even more obvious by the path the blonde seemed to cut through the sea of bystanders.

Finally making it to the bar, Blake nearly walked into Yang's back when the girl suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Yang, what's -" she began to ask, raising her voice to nearly a yell in order to be heard above the sound of the music. She halted her question when Yang stepped to the side, allowing Blake to see what had just paused her movement.

Sitting in front of them on one of the barstools, mindlessly stirring a drink while staring gleefully in their direction, sat someone who Blake surely recognized.

Cinder Fall.

AKA - Yang's ex. And from the stories Blake had heard so far, not the most...sane person.

"Well...look who the cat dragged in."

"Cinder...nice to see you too…" Yang answered politely, her grip tightening around Blake's hand.

"I'm surprised that you made it. You've been spending so much time recently with your new...pet…"

Cinder glanced at Blake disdainfully, eyes giving her a once over that made her bristle with indignation and feel horribly inadequate at the same time.

"I'd appreciate it if you never say anything like that again."

She looked at Yang, surprised at the tone of voice the girl had just used. Low and forceful - it was a very clear threat the blonde was issuing.

Taken aback for only a second, Cinder's expression quickly became one of amusement. She hopped off of her chair and strode purposefully up to Blake, who resisted the urge to step away from the girl.

"Hello, Blake," the girl said, voice smooth and silky. "It's _very_ nice to finally meet you. I've heard _so_ much about you, after all."

The actress extended her hand towards Blake, an amused smile still on her lips. After glancing between the offered hand and that smile several times, she finally reached forward and gave Cinder a firm handshake.

"It's nice to meet you too, Cinder. I've heard _so_ much about you, as well. None of it good."

The comment threw Cinder off guard for a split second, the girl clearly not having suspected such a reply. But before the girl could respond, Blake felt a slight tug on her other hand. Waving politely, she allowed Yang to pull her away - happy to leave the offputting girl to ponder what stories Yang might have told her.

"Sorry about that…" Yang apologized while they made their hasty retreat from the bar. "I had no idea she would be here..."

"Yang."

She squeezed the girl's hand in order to gain her attention. Yang stopped and looked back at her, expression full of apology, but Blake didn't want to hear any of that.

"It's fine - really. What would a club be without some catty girls going after each other?"

Yang beamed at her, any anxiety completely destroyed.

"A boring one," the blonde answered with a nod of her head before giving Blake one of the most adoring smiles she had ever received. "God, you're so cool. How did you get to be so cool?"

"Years of practice," she replied immediately, earning a laugh and smile from Yang - the blonde was acting normally again, much to her relief.

"Oh! I think I see her!"

Leading the way through the crowds once more, Yang brought her towards a small, closely knit band of partiers who all seemed to be looking at the one person whose back was currently facing them. Without pausing for a second, Yang walked straight up and tapped on the girl's shoulder, surprising everyone nearby at her perceived audacity.

The girl slowly turned around, as if she, too, was curious as to who had summoned the gall to interrupt her conversation. Dressed head to toe in what must be the very latest fashions, every inch of this girl screamed privilege and authority.

Blake wasn't the most knowledgeable on current fashions, but she was willing to wager she could pick up the nearest style magazine and find each part of the girl's outfit within those pages - from the trendy boots to the expensive handbag and designer sunglasses. Although how the girl could wear sunglasses in a dark club and still see was beyond her.

"Yang."

The girl allowed a half smile to appear on her lips, which Blake was guessing might be the best they would be receiving.

"I thought you couldn't make it."

"Ah, yeah, almost didn't! But you can thank this fine lady here for getting me here...mostly on time."

Yang held up their joined hands to direct the girl's attention towards Blake, who suddenly understood what it must feel like to be an article of clothing being critiqued by a designer. Even behind the dark sunglasses, she could feel every inch of her outfit being scrutinized by the girl.

"Blake, this is Coco - this is her club. Coco, this is Blake Belladonna - author extraordinaire, most beautiful girl in the world, and, most importantly, my girlfriend."

Feeling a blush rise on her cheeks, she reached forward to shake Coco's hand.

"It's very nice to meet you, Coco…?"

She let the last syllable hang a moment too long, realizing that Yang had never mentioned the girl's last name.

"Just Coco," the girl said, shaking Blake's hand quickly. "I'm grateful you were able to convince her to show up. Having celebrities make appearances can do wonders for a club's reputation."

"Oh...it was no problem at all, really."

"Maybe for _you_ it was no problem at all. But for everyone else, it's nearly impossible to get this girl to do anything she doesn't want to do," Coco replied with a smirk. "But I hope you enjoy yourselves, regardless. Anything you need, you let me know, ok?"

"Absolutely!" Yang replied for the both of them, tugging on Blake's hand as they prepared to take their leave.

"Oh and Blake -"

Turning back at Coco's words, she found the girl with one finger gracefully tapping down the edge of her sunglasses, revealing the girl's chocolate colored eyes gazing at her carefully.

"It _was_ really nice to finally meet you."

At first, she thought that the girl was being sarcastic with the comment...until she noticed the smile Coco gave her before turning back towards her crowd of admirers.

"Well, that's about as ringing of an endorsement as you can get from Coco!" Yang said happily as she led Blake towards their third destination.

"Want to dance?"

Reaching the edge of the dance floor, Yang turned to look at her expectantly, lilac eyes clearly saying that the blonde wanted to dance with her.

"Uh...I haven't really danced...in a long time..."

"You'll pick it up in no time. You're a natural, I can see it!"

Grabbing ahold of both of Blake's hands, Yang dragged her towards the middle of the dance floor. The music grew steadily louder with each step they took, while the temperature around them increased exponentially. Other guests were pressed in around them, each engrossed in their own partners - although many paused to stare when they noticed Yang pass them by.

Reaching a spot Yang deemed satisfactory, she dropped Blake's hands and began moving to the beat of the music. But...she stared while she watched Yang make a whole bunch of imaginary dance moves that were far from coordinated. The people surrounding them glanced over at the blonde spectacle, chuckling at the sight.

"See? It won't matter if you're a bad dancer because they're all looking at me!" Yang yelled across to her with a goofy grin at her ingenious plan, not caring in the slightest that she was making a complete fool out of herself just for Blake's sake.

Laughing, she reached out one hand and placed it on Yang's arm - prompting the girl to temporarily pause her movements.

"I'm not _that_ bad of a dancer!" she said, giving Yang an appreciative smile for her sacrifice.

The girl grinned and scooted closer, stepping right into her personal space so that they could talk at a more comfortable level.

"Good - because I felt like an idiot doing that."

"You kind of looked like one too," she replied with another laugh, knowing that she wouldn't forget Yang's horrible dance moves anytime soon.

Grinning, Yang picked up Blake's hands and guided them to her hips, failing to notice the blush creep onto Blake's face at the motion.

"Just follow my lead until you're comfortable, k?"

Swallowing thickly, she managed to nod her head in reply. Yang began dancing again, only this time showing off some of her true talents. Blake kept up the best she could, feeling slightly embarrassed at first - feeling hundreds of strangers staring at the two of them together.

But the longer they danced together, the more comfortable she became.

And with Yang's eyes refusing to leave hers for a single second, she could feel it again…

Their connection...the thread that bound them together…something powerful that reached out from alternate universes to affect their own…

Eventually, the rest of the dance floor faded away as she lost herself in the expanse of purple that seemed to have been made just for her.

No one else existed in this moment - no one but her and Yang.

The way it was destined to be.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay, but I had to drop everything recently to go to a funeral :( But, I'm back in town and back to writing!**

**Bonus points for the people who can tell me what show inspired a part of this story!**

* * *

><p>Blake woke up late the next morning and very nearly missed the one and only meeting she had scheduled for the day with her publisher.<p>

They had ended up staying at the club until the early hours of the morning. A good amount of that time was spent dancing, which she certainly felt in her muscles today. But after they had gotten tired of dancing, they had found a quieter corner of the club where they could sit and talk in (mostly) undisturbed peace. They managed to pass hours together like that - being interrupted only every so often by a fan who wanted to take a picture with Yang.

Never in her life had Blake known someone she enjoyed talking to so much. Yang always seemed to know the perfect time to listen quietly, offer her input, or make an appropriately timed fool of herself. Each conversation they had seemed to have a life of its own - a living, breathing moment that always evolved into something magical.

When she heard the sound of her phone buzzing from her long-ago discarded bag on the kitchen table, she pushed herself up from the sofa to see who had messaged her. From the way her heart was already speeding, she knew who she _wanted_ it to be. Anyone else would surely be a disappointment.

Which is why she couldn't help smiling when she read the incoming message.

_What are you up to tonight? Wanna watch a movie?_

Replying 'yes' instantly, she only had to wait another three seconds for Yang to tell her she could come over right away.

Grabbing her keys, she was out the door without a second thought - already looking forward to spending a nice, quiet evening with Yang. Maybe they could curl up on the sofa together while watching the movie...

Only a few minutes later, she was walking through the entrance to Yang's building.

She paused by the front door, waiting for the security guard to ask for her name, but he just waved her through with a short glance and not a word. Surprised by the lax security, she made her way tentatively to the elevator and pressed the outer button to call one down.

When the elevator arrived and the guard still said nothing, she stepped in and pressed the button for the top floor. A minute later, she was knocking on the one and only door on this level.

It didn't take more than a couple seconds for Yang to practically rip the door open - appearing as if she had just sprinted to open it as quickly as possible.

"Heyyy," the blonde tried to say nonchalantly, bringing a smile to Blake's face.

At least she hadn't been the only one pining for some company tonight.

"Hey," she responded happily. Yang stared at her for several seconds with a grin plastered to her face - just long enough for Blake to shift uncomfortably under the unwavering gaze.

"So...are you going to invite me in or are we going to watch in the hallway?"

The question made the girl jump to action, pushing the door open all the way and motioning Blake through with a blush on her face.

"In here, of course," the blonde mumbled softly.

"Funny thing…" she said while stepping into the large front entryway of Yang's apartment and removing her jacket and shoes. "Your security guard just waved me past without even asking who I was here to see."

"Oh! That's because I called down earlier and told him to let through the most beautiful girl he saw tonight - that I was expecting her," Yang answered with a pleased grin - leaning forward to relieve Blake of her jacket, only to steal a kiss at the same time.

The kiss flustered her, but she still managed to maintain her train of thought...somewhat.

"W-what if he had let up some other girl?"

She couldn't help feeling incredibly flattered when Yang blinked blankly at the question. Clearly, the girl had never even considered that there were undoubtedly other beautiful girls living in this building.

"Uh...well then I'd be doubly lucky?" the actress finally joked with a lopsided grin. "Maybe?"

Blake shook her head at the joke and laughed.

"Let's just hope he doesn't keep sending girls your way tonight…"

With that, she was finally able to spare a moment to take in Yang's apartment. It didn't look nearly as childish as she had imagined from Pyrrha's description, but she was quickly learning that those two gave each other a hard time about almost everything.

The front entryway opened into a large open space - the living room and television were placed off to the left along with a comfortable looking sofa and some plush chairs, while a dining table occupied the right of the room. Directly across from them was the kitchen - large, open, with an island and all stainless steel appliances.

Two hallways led off to the left and right, leading either to more common rooms or bedrooms.

"So this is how a ten year old lives, huh?" she asked playfully.

Yang laughed and grabbed her hand, leading her over to the sofa.

In front of the sofa sat a large coffee table that was currently overflowing with all sorts of snacks and drinks - as well as an array of movies. Glancing at the titles, it looked like Yang had picked out one from nearly every genre - including a horror film someone would have to pay Blake to watch.

"It looks like you robbed a video store."

"Yeah...I kind of realized that I didn't know what movie you'd want to watch, so I got an assortment," Yang explained. "Do you know what you want to watch?"

"Why don't you be my film expert? You're an actress, after all," Blake said. "I don't really know much about movies."

Yang laughed at Blake's honest reply.

"I actually don't watch that many movies, either, but how about this one?"

The girl reached out and picked up the least threatening title in the bunch. The cover screamed romantic comedy, which was perfect in Blake's opinion.

Giving her nod of approval, Yang grinned and practically flew over to the TV to set everything up. While she was doing that, Blake sat down in the middle of the giant sofa.

Once the movie began playing, Yang bounded back over to her and sat down right beside her. Sitting straight up, Blake was suddenly unsure about what Yang expected her to do. Was she supposed to lean into the girl's side? Or stay sitting like they were?

She was quickly leaning towards option one, since she could already feel the warmth from the blonde's body heat working its way into her veins.

Before she could stop herself, a sigh of contentment slipped past her lips - which Yang must have heard from the giggle she let out. The next second a strong, warm arm was wrapped around Blake's shoulders, gently tugging her into Yang's side.

Even though her heart was pounding, she allowed Yang to draw her closer. Pulling her legs up onto the sofa beside her, she snuggled into the girl's side.

Another sigh escaped her as Yang's fingers wove their way delicately through her hair - the blonde absentmindedly playing with Blake's raven tresses while they turned their attention towards the television screen.

But she probably wasn't going to remember much of this movie tonight...

* * *

><p>Yang let out a long yawn as soon as the end credits began scrolling up the screen, stretching both arms high above her head. Blake couldn't help but smile, finding it to be pretty adorable that Yang would be tired as soon as the movie ended. That, and the blonde's stretching was accompanied by the cutest little noises.<p>

Although, she could do without all the extra movement, which was disrupting her place snuggled into Yang's side.

"Woah, it's already pretty late!" Yang exclaimed after glancing towards the clock hanging on the apartment wall.

Blake frowned at the realization, though thankfully Yang couldn't see the expression. This was the part of their evenings she enjoyed the least.

"Yeah...guess I should get going..." she remarked solemnly, swinging her legs down from the sofa to the soft rug below. Pushing herself to her feet, she raised her hands high above her head, feeling her back crack several times in protest for having remained motionless for so long - like it was her fault Yang was so warm and comfortable.

She sighed in disappointment when her right side instantly chilled - already missing the warm body next to it. Turning back towards the sofa, Blake watched Yang get to her feet, a small smile appearing on the blonde's face.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" Yang asked easily, swinging her arms side to side with audible pops of protest issuing from her back.

She felt a blush light up her cheeks, eyes widening temporarily in surprise - especially with how casually Yang had posed such a question.

They hadn't done that before...stayed over at each other's place. Not that Blake hadn't _thought_ about it - the thought had crossed her mind more than a few times over the time they had been seeing each other.

She jolted from her thoughts when Yang cleared her throat, realizing that she was taking a little too long to respond to the question.

"U-uh...yeah, sure. I can stay," she replied hastily, not thinking about what the answer really entailed, just knowing that she wanted to say yes. "Oh...but I don't have any of my things..."

Having already received her positive answer, Yang was now sporting a giant smile - of the radiant variety that would give the sun a run for its money.

"That's not a problem!" the blonde responded with a wave of her hand. "I have _plenty _of clothes - you can borrow some."

With that, Yang waved for Blake to follow her out of the living room area and down the hallway on the right side of the apartment. There was only one door at the end of this hallway, which opened into a giant master suite. The center of the room was taken up by a comfortably plush looking bed, while two sides were lined with drawers, various random articles laying on top. The bathroom opened to the left, while the right wall was taken up by a closed door which must have been the massive closet.

Once inside the room, the blonde began shuffling through several drawers before withdrawing with a soft 'aha!' of success. Rushing back to Blake, she held up the items she had just found. She took the two articles of clothing from Yang when they were extended to her, contemplating them skeptically.

"Uh...do you have any shorts that aren't so...short?"

Yang burst out laughing at the question, returning to the drawers to pull out an equally short and skintight pair for herself - holding them up for Blake to see.

"Have you seen me wear any other kind?" the blonde asked playfully.

"No, I guess not," she answered after spending several seconds raking her memory only to come up empty. But when someone had a figure like Yang's, why would they cover it up?

"You could always just wear, you know, your underwear. I totally wouldn't mind," Yang added with a teasing wink, causing her cheeks to light up faster than ever before.

Resigned to her lack of better options, she hurried into the attached bathroom and quickly changed into her new pajamas. If she were forced to, she would admit that the short black shorts were actually quite comfortable, albeit moderately too revealing. She had thought that their tightness would be bothersome, but the material actually felt nice pressed against her skin.

Still, just because she liked staring at Yang in these tiny shorts didn't mean she wanted to parade around in them herself.

The yellow t-shirt Yang had given her was a little large, but hung comfortably off her frame. She could imagine that this shirt would fit Yang much more snuggly - what with the blonde's larger...assets…filling it out.

Stepping back into the bedroom, she found that Yang had already changed and was sitting cross-legged on the bed waiting for her to emerge. She had to give the blonde some credit for not staring _too _badly, but the way Yang's jaw fell open brought another blush to her face.

And Yang really shouldn't have been the one gawking either, when the blonde looked positively sultry in her form-fitting white tank top and dark purple shorts that only caused Blake's flush to deepen - they were even shorter than the ones she was currently wearing, leaving _very _little to the imagination. They were enough to set Blake's mind sprinting in a million different (and highly inappropriate) directions.

After a few frozen seconds of attempting to stare at each other without actually staring, Blake finally cleared her throat, determined to play it cool. She'd seen Yang in similar outfits before, after all.

But never in Yang's own bedroom...while wearing almost equally revealing clothing…before they spent the night together.

"So...what do you want to do now?" she asked as she climbed up onto the bed and sat down in front of the blonde, trying her best to ignore the brief look of lust that flashed through those lilac eyes.

One thing was for sure - any exhaustion Yang had felt earlier was now completely gone.

"Uh..." the blonde stalled, eyes scanning the room in search of an idea. Finally lighting upon something, she grinned. "Oh! How about we play some cards?"

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, relieved to have anything to stare at besides her girlfriend.

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

Yang immediately bounced off the bed and over to the dresser to grab the pack of cards that had been laying there. The action provided the perfect opportunity for Blake to intently check out the back of the blonde's outfit, averting her eyes with a soft blush when Yang turned back towards her.

Walking back to the bed, Yang peeled off the plastic wrapper that hadn't even been removed yet, discarding it on the floor with a grin. Retaking her seat across from Blake, she pulled out the deck and began shuffling the fresh cards.

"What do you want to play?" Blake asked, eyes mesmerized by the motion of the cards shuffling together over and over again in Yang's skillful hands.

"How about...strip poker."

Her eyes instantly shot up at the suggestion, finding Yang already giggling while a blush heated her face.

"I hope you're not being serious - we're wearing like four pieces of clothing..."

"_You're_ wearing like four pieces of clothing…" the blonde hinted suggestively, winking at Blake while her blush reached undiscovered shades of deep red.

"How about just regular poker?" she suggested hopefully, but Yang shook her head.

"Naw...too boring without the striping."

Blake turned away for a few seconds, trying to think of another idea while calming her thoughts. How was it possible for Yang to be so unaffected by these jokes?

A thought popped into her head just then - something that might allow her to regain a little bit of control over the evening.

"I have an idea...how about we play a new game?" she proposed, looking back to Yang with a warm smile.

"I'm down. But what does the winner get?"

Blake raised a hand to her chin in deep thought for a couple seconds before she gave Yang the most serious expression she could muster.

"Whatever they want."

She couldn't help but laugh when Yang's mouth dropped open and cards flew across the bed mid-shuffle.

"Are you serious?" the blonde asked in dismay while Blake collected the now-forgotten cards.

"Yes."

"_Anything _they want?" Yang pressed.

"_Anything_," Blake responded plainly. She shivered involuntarily from the look Yang was now giving her - somewhere between hunger and greed...she could probably guess what reward Yang would be collecting if she won. So now she just needed to make sure Yang didn't win...

"So, do you want to play?"

"Hell yeah!"

Blake smiled at the enthusiastic response as she began shuffling the cards in her own hands - slowly, methodically - getting used to the feeling of the slippery plastic against her fingertips.

"What's the game called?" Yang finally asked when Blake was prepared to deal their first hand.

"Cups."

She placed two cards facedown in front of Yang, then two in front of herself. Setting the dealer stack on the bed beside her, she looked across to Yang and found the blonde staring at her in excited expectation.

"The objective of Cups is to be the first person to get a 'full cup.' You score points for different card combinations, but can lose them, as well," she explained as briefly as possible.

"Alright - let's go!" Yang remarked, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

Blake rolled her eyes; she had figured Yang wouldn't have the patience to listen to more than two sentences of rules. The blonde seemed to have already forgotten that she should actually try to _win_ the game.

"Ok, look at your cards," she instructed, picking up her own pair at the same time.

Practically diving at her hand, Yang held the two cards up triumphantly before slamming them down on the covers in front of Blake's legs.

"A king and a queen!" the blonde shouted gleefully.

"That's good...but doesn't amount to any points in Cups," she said, giving Yang a sympathetic smile.

"Oh..." Yang responded, slightly deflated for all of a single second before cheering up. "Well, what did you get?"

Smirking, Blake flipped over her two cards - a three and a seven.

"I got 'one steaming cup' - three points."

She had to bite back the giggles that rose in her throat at the blank stare Yang gave the two cards laying on top of the covers.

"Aw man...already three points behind?" Yang finally said with a smile. "Next hand! I have some catching up to do."

This time, Blake did laugh, picking up the stack of unused cards and dealing four more.

"Two tens!" Yang exclaimed seconds later, flashing the two cards in front of Blake's eyes for her to see. "That has to be something, right? It's a high pair."

"Maybe in poker, Yang...but this is Cups. You don't get anything for a high pair," she explained with a chuckle. "On the other hand..." she began, flipping over her own cards. "Aha!"

Yang narrowed her eyes at the eight and jack laying in front of her.

"What's that?"

"That, my dear, is 'D cup,'" she responded, mustering as much excitement as possible into her voice.

"Oh, you mean like 'D'ese?" Yang replied with a wink, pointing both thumbs back towards her chest.

Flushing, she turned her eyes back down at the cards, ignoring the question entirely.

"Two points," she awarded herself while picking up the discarded hands.

"Man...you'd think they'd worth more than just two points..." Yang responded forlornly, shaking her head. "Ok, next!"

Blake dealt the next hand, which she won with a two and ten over Yang's nine-ten combo. Then, her pair of twos beat Yang's aces.

"God, Blake. I'm _really_ bad at Cups..." the blonde lamented moments later, tossing their used cards on top of the discard pile.

Blake felt a small pang of guilt in her chest, feeling bad for taking advantage of her girlfriend in such a manner. But...even though Yang was losing horribly, the blonde's mood didn't seem to be affected one bit. In fact, she almost seemed _glad_ to be losing.

She studied Yang's smiling face closely, searching for any clues of how the girl was feeling. Honestly, she couldn't tell if Yang _actually _thought she was horribly unlucky at this game, or if she knew that Blake was messing with her and was just playing along for her sake. It was incredibly difficult to tell sometimes...and Blake wouldn't put either one past the girl - she was a professional actress, after all.

"I'm going to go get a drink," Yang suddenly remarked, shooting off the bed like it had just turned to lava.

"Oops...you just lost the sitting down bonus," she said gingerly, testing Yang for a response.

A groan was the only answer she received while the blonde headed towards the door, pausing before she had fully exited the room.

"Do you want anything?"

"Some water would be great," she answered with a grateful smile. "Thank you."

The blonde wasn't gone longer than thirty seconds before she reappeared carrying two glasses filled to the brim with water. Blake watched with a small smile playing on her lips while Yang intently watched the glasses in both of her hands, brow adorably furrowed in concentration while she attempted not to spill a single drop. The bottom on Yang's tank top had ridden up slightly without her notice, revealing just a sliver of the girl's smooth midriff.

"For you," Yang commented lightly, carefully passing Blake her glass before re-taking her seat on the bed, completely oblivious to the stare she had been receiving. "So now that I'm sitting down again, do I get my bonus back?"

Blake looked at her blankly for a few seconds before her eyes widened, having completely forgotten about their game while she'd been busy checking out the blonde.

"Oh, uh sure, you can have your bonus back," she replied, enjoying the look of joy on Yang's face.

"Awesome! I need all the points I can get if I want any chance of beating you."

While she sat there, smiling at Yang's enviable ability to stay positive under all circumstances, she wondered why she had been so nervous about staying the night.

After all, even though she hadn't mustered the courage to say it yet, she loved this girl.

"Hey, maybe we can call it a night and pick this back up tomorrow?"

"But...then who won?" Yang asked incredulously at the suggestion, causing Blake to frown as she searched for a solution.

"How about one last, sudden death, winner-take-all card?" she asked, picking the cards back up and shuffling them in her hands.

"Oooo sounds like I could still win that prize, after all!" Yang replied gleefully, rubbing her hands together excitedly.

"Now, don't get too excited," Blake warned the blonde while pulling one card from the deck, "because that's only going to happen if - noooo way!"

Yang let out a loud "whoop" of joy, leaping off the bed in happiness at Blake's reaction - having no clue what the four of diamonds actually symbolized other than her imminent victory. Blake grinned at the girl while she danced around the room for a few seconds to let out all of her excitement.

"My luck has returned!" the blonde exclaimed, jumping back onto the bed - landing on both knees and giving Blake a hasty kiss she hadn't been at all prepared for.

"I'm sorry that you lost though," Yang said sincerely, lilac eyes now just inches from Blake's face as they gazed at each other.

Turning away when she felt a blush begin creeping back up her cheeks, she softly mumbled, "It's ok, you deserved it..."

Yang laughed, standing back on the floor and stretching her arms behind her back.

"You want to go to sleep now?" she asked nonchalantly.

Nodding her head, Blake finally unfolded her own legs and slid her feet down to the floor. Turning around the straighten all of the cards and put them away, her eyes fell upon something laying on top of a pile of clothing on the opposite side of the room.

"Yang..." she began slowly while walking over to inspect the item, "I thought you said you didn't own any regular shorts."

She held up the incriminating article of clothing that had been resting on top of a stack of clean, folded clothes.

"Oh...uh...well... I forgot about those?" the blonde tried to answer innocently, but Blake just threw the balled up shorts across the room at her, drawing a giggle out of the girl.

"You can wear them, if you want!"

She just scoffed while she pulled back the covers and slid underneath them.

"Too little, too late," she responded curtly, turning away in order to hide her smile. Seeing the lights flick off and feeling the other side of the mattress dip slightly when Yang joined her, she rolled over to find herself instantly drawn into expansive lilac eyes, enough love shining through them to take her breath away.

"So..." she began nervously, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. "What do you want...for your reward?"

Yang grinned, scooting closer - close enough for Blake to feel the girl's warmth spanning the distance between them. Her breathing slowed in anticipation, muscles trembling while she waited to hear Yang's words.

"I want you…to tell me about that time you made up a fake card game just to get out of playing strip poker."


	14. Chapter 14

**Short chapter - but they don't _all_ have to be long, do they?**

**Also, for those that have been wondering, white rose WILL be in this story eventually. Right now, it's just about the bees though!**

* * *

><p>"She's amazing. Amazing! Absolutely amazing."<p>

"_Please_ stop using that word. It's horribly depressing for those of us who don't have someone 'amazing' in our lives," Pyrrha said, pulling another top off of a rack and holding it up before shaking her head.

"I resent that comment. _I'm_ in your life," Yang replied with a semi serious expression, before her grin returned full force. "But I can't help it! She's just so...incredible."

Rolling her eyes, Pyrrha moved to another rack of clothing while Yang mindlessly trailed her friend's movement through the clothing store. They were currently the only ones inside - maybe because this particular designer was ridiculously expensive. Even Yang balked at some of the price tags.

Of course, most designers gave Pyrrha Nikos a substantial discount in order to have her wear their newest items. Well, was free technically a discount or a donation?

"Do I even want to know the reason behind this sudden onset of gushing?"

Giggling, her mind drifted back to several nights ago. Which had been _amazing_. Better than she ever could have imagined...or, more realistically, better than she ever _had_ imagined.

"No, you probably don't," she answered honestly, knowing that she might quickly venture into TMI territory if she started talking about it right now.

"Well, that solves the mystery then, doesn't it," Pyrrha replied with a laugh. "When do you think you'll come down off Cloud 9 so that you can help me pick out a new outfit?"

"Hmm...sometime between tomorrow and...never. I'm going to be happy forever."

"Forever, huh? Well aren't you easy to please," Pyrrha muttered without thinking.

"Don't answer that!" the redhead instantly shouted when Yang had opened her mouth to respond, making her burst into giggles instead.

"_And_ she's coming to set tomorrow to watch me film some scenes," she said, feeling inexplicably nervous at the idea that Blake would be watching her act in person tomorrow. She just hoped that she didn't mess up her lines too much from nerves. And that Cinder marginally behaved herself.

"Ohh that's special! I seem to remember being disinvited from ever going on set again," Pyrrha replied, handing a shirt to Yang for her to hold.

"That's because everyone kept trying to offer you a part in the movie."

"Was that really such a bad thing?"

"It was my part!" she shouted incredulously, making Pyrrha burst out laughing at the memory.

"If only I could act…"


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. I hope that it continues to be enjoyable! I'm also working on a couple of other (shorter) stories with a lot more plot and...angst. lol so look forward to those in the future!**

* * *

><p>The crumbling stone walls of the temple created eerie shadows in the low light provided by the flickering torches lining the narrow, somewhat claustrophobic hallway. Strings of green plants, which were miraculously surviving in these conditions, were hanging from crevices in the walls and ceilings - providing the only dash of color in a sea of gray and brown.<p>

"It has to be here somewhere…"

"What did the map say again?" she directed towards her companion, lowering her eyes to watch as a worn map was produced beside her.

"It says the entrance should be _right_ here - right at this pyramid symbol."

Seeing the described symbol etched into the stone wall by them, she walked over and placed her hand against it lightly.

Opening her mouth to speak, she suddenly froze - mind completely blanking as she frantically searched her memory for what she was supposed to say next.

"Cut!"

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath while the sounds of activity sprang up all around them - crew members rushing to and fro while resetting the scene.

That was already her third screw up in their _one_ and _only_ scene for the day. She was usually much more on point than this…

"Well..._you're_ having an off day."

Scowling at the comment, she spun on her heel and began walking back to their starting point at the other end of the fake stone hallway. She could feel Cinder's presence ghosting along beside her and didn't need to look at the girl to know she had an infuriating smirk on her face.

"Could your complete inability to act have anything to do with the guest you have today?"

"Save it, Cinder."

She had already lost patience with the girl's pestering, but Cinder merely laughed at the curt response.

"It's a pity you saved your worst day of acting for her to witness firsthand."

Stomping forcefully on the small yellow 'X' taped to the floor, she spun towards Cinder, feeling a flush unconsciously light her cheeks in embarrassment.

Cinder always had a way with words...in that it never took her very many of them to get under Yang's skin. It seemed like the girl found great amusement in it, too, from the satisfied expression on her face.

But Yang couldn't allow Cinder to get to her - she needed to focus. She'd already made too many mental errors because of how painfully aware she was of Blake's presence nearby. She was so concerned about what the author would think about her acting ability that she was forgetting her lines. It didn't help that she didn't want to be working with Cinder right now - she wanted to be flirting with Blake, instead!

Unfortunately, redoing these scenes was keeping her from spending time with her girlfriend.

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she took a long, deep breath - clearing her mind of everything but the scene she was standing in. She was no longer Yang Xiao Long - she was Skyler Redd, adventurer extraordinaire. And Cinder was...just her sarcastic, sometimes helpful sidekick.

The thought made her grin, which only caused the girl blinked in confusion at Yang's sudden mood change.

"Alright, you ladies ready?"

After nodding in response, they waited for their cue as the movement from cameras and microphones came to a complete halt - complete silence descending upon the set.

"Annnnd...action!"

The loud snap spurred them into motion once again, treading carefully down the familiar mossy hallway together.

"It has to be here somewhere…"

"What did the map say again?" she asked a second time, again directing her attention towards the map when Cinder pulled it out of her bag and held it out in front of them.

"It says the entrance should be _right_ here - right at this pyramid symbol."

She would have to hand it to Cinder - even though Yang was messing up often, the girl was completely on point today, nailing her part of the scene.

Locating the symbol, she walked over and pressed her hand lightly against it, studying it closely.

"You'd think they'd leave some instructions or something," she joked, turning back to Cinder with a grin. "Like, 'secret room hidden here - just press these buttons to get in!'"

Whether in character or just being her usual self, Cinder stared at her, unamused at Yang's attempt to lighten the mood. That was, until the girl's eyes widened with an idea.

"Skyler, you're a genius!" she said, brushing past Yang and focusing all of her attention on the wall behind them, tearing down several strands of plants in order to get a better view of the symbols written there.

"Nice of you to finally admit it," she replied cheekily, watching the girl work with avid curiosity. "So, _did_ they leave instructions?"

"Not exactly…they left a riddle - the same riddle written on that pipe you stole from the museum."

"_Borrowed_ from the museum! I totally have plans on returning that!"

Cinder didn't reply, eyes scouring the glyphs before she found the right ones. In quick succession, she pressed her hands against several nearly invisible buttons. The next second, a loud puff of air washed over them as the door unsealed.

Looking at each other excitedly, the two of them pulled open the door and stepped inside - finding themselves in a small room with an ornate marble pillar standing in the center.

"So...is this what we're looking for, or…"

Walking over to the pillar, she looked down at it closely, reaching out one hand to touch the smooth surface.

"Don't touch anything," Cinder snapped at her, slapping her hand away. "This was supposed to be the throne room...but it looks like another fake. Just give me a minute to figure this out."

Yang brushed off the comment, opting to walk over to one of the walls while Cinder studied the pillar. Passing a particular section of moss and stone, she did a double take when her eyes lit upon the same pyramid glyph from outside the room. Scraping away a clump of moss, she crouched down to examine it more closely.

There, right beneath the glyph, was a tiny round dot that looked almost like a...button.

Glancing back towards Cinder, she found that the girl was still absorbed in her work. She gave a shrug of her shoulders and reached one hand out, pressing the button gently.

A large crack suddenly appeared in the wall in front of her, causing her to leap backwards in surprise.

Cocking her head to one side, she thought she could hear something coming from the walls. Creeping forward and pressing one ear to the cold stone, she could hear it growing louder now - like the distant roar of…

Water.

"Uh...we might want to get out of here…"

Cinder looked at her in confusion, eyes widening when the distant rushing sound became a loud roar.

"Now!"

She grabbed Cinder's arm and dragged her back out the door and into the long hallway. Cinder glanced behind them and let out a groan.

"I told you not to touch anything!" she yelled, separating her arm from Yang's in favor of running on her own.

"Yeah, well...you know me!"

The two of them were now sprinting through the stone corridors, following a path they had memorized from their walkthrough earlier today. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out the shapes of the cameras sliding quickly beside them - matching their pace while keeping them in focus.

People sometimes wondered how they made these scenes look so realistic - when they were fleeing from danger. She got comments all the time about how it looked like she was actually running for her life.

Well, the truth was that Cinder and her were actually having an unspoken competition to be the first ones to reach the finish line. Even though the scene already dictated that Yang would reach it first, that wouldn't stop Cinder from trying to beat her and make them redo the entire scene. So, if Yang didn't want to have to run through the scene _another_ time, she needed to make sure to out-race her co star.

If only the director knew the secret games they were playing…

Sliding around the last corner, Yang felt Cinder hit the wall directly behind her, right on her heels. The doorway was in sight now, she just needed to push her legs a little harder and -

She felt the contact just as they reached the doorway - their legs getting tangled up together in their haste, the hallway a little too narrow to allow both of them to run side by side. They both crashed to the hard stone floor in a mess of limbs and slid the last few feet into the 'safe' room.

Somehow ending up lying flat on her back with one of Cinder's legs across her ankles, she looked up at the doorway they had just passed through, watching it intently even though nothing was happening. When the film went to editing, the doorway was going to crumble to pieces - the large boulders falling into place to block the onslaught of water, but also trap them in this room.

After watching for the three counts the script called for, she laid her head back down on the ground and sighed in relief.

"Well...that was...interesting…" she said, continuing her lines even though they had just messed up the ending.

"Remind me to handcuff you the next time we're in an ancient temple," Cinder commented dryly, not bothering to move from her spot on the ground.

"Cut! Great job, ladies! That ending was ingenious."

Yang jumped to her feet and grinned - happy they didn't have to redo that scene a fourth time. And even though she had technically messed up again, the director loved it!

Reaching a hand down, she pulled Cinder to her feet.

"Are you ok?" she asked, noticing the scraps Cinder had on her elbows and knees - similar to her own. "Sorry, we got tangled up there."

"I'm fine," Cinder replied, her mouth twitching upwards in the faintest of smiles while dusting off her outfit. "You never were a very coordinated runner."

Yang laughed as assistants rushed over to them, making a fuss over the scrapes they had collected on their elbows and knees.

It always surprised her when Cinder actually displayed a sense of humor.

Waving the assistants away from her, she made her way to the edge of the set - focused on a certain brunette standing nearby. She jogged the remaining distance to where Blake had been watching, feeling a grin reappear on her face.

"So...what'd you think?"

"Very impressive - you made that fall look spectacular," the girl responded with a smile, eyes twinkling in amusement.

She laughed nervously, running one hand gently over her scraped elbow.

"Yeah...that kinda wasn't..._supposed _to happen…"

Blake raised her eyebrows - studying her closely before nodding her head in understanding.

"You were racing, weren't you."

"How did you know?"

Had it really been that obvious? Because no one else had seemed to be able to put that together in the past few _years_ she and Cinder had been doing it. And there were a _lot_ of running scenes in these movies.

"I'm a genius," Blake responded with a playful wink. "But seriously, the parts before that were all amazing. It's really cool to see you take on a whole different personality like that."

She felt her face warm at the compliment, feeling suddenly bashful.

"Ah well...it's not really that hard...Skyler and I are actually pretty similar, except she gets a lot more girls than I do."

"Oh? Is that a bad thing?" Blake broke in, expression gravely serious.

"N-no of course not!" she quickly replied, mortified by what she had just insinuated. "I was just...pointing out that I only need _one_ girl to make me happy!"

Blake giggled at her response and she instantly relaxed, knowing that she had at least said something right.

Making her way off the set, Cinder made sure to pass directly by Yang's side - bumping into her lightly to announce her presence.

"Fourth time's the charm, right, Yang?" the girl said with a smirk, before ruining any goodwill Yang retained for her with the disdainful look she gave Blake. "I didn't realize they were letting just _anyone_ onto set these days."

"It's nice to see you again, too. And that shade of green looks lovely on you, by the way," Blake replied without missing a beat, providing Cinder with a polite smile.

Cinder briefly looked down at her outfit, which was primarily black, gray, and covered in dust.

"What, are you colorblind? I'm not wearing any green."

Yang started giggling when she understood what Blake had been referring to. Seconds later, Cinder scowled when she also caught on.

"You think you're _so_ clever, don't you," she said menacingly, causing Yang to cut in defensively before things could escalate any further.

"She actually _is_ really clever," she said simply and, before Cinder could reply, she tugged on Blake's hand.

"Come on, Blake, I think we have time for a quickie in my trailer."

"Yang…"

"I know, I know - I'm sorry I just wanted to make her mad," she whispered at Blake's complaint as they began walking away. She felt a little bad for embarrassing the girl - but her apology only made Blake flush deeper.

"No, it's not that…you just don't have to announce it to the entire world…"

She felt her eyes widen in surprise while a huge grin lit up her face.

"Oh! Excuse us then, we're going to go _not_ have a quickie in my trailer!" she called happily back to the now steaming Cinder before pulling Blake further away. "Was that better?"

Blake sighed and tightened her grip on Yang's hand while they made their way towards Yang's personal trailer.

"Yes, that made it all better," she replied deadpan, making Yang laugh once again.

They wove their way quickly amongst the crowd of people on set, making their way out of the main filming area and towards their personal spaces. Yang's trailer was just a few paces away now - marked by her name written prominently on the door.

"You know, I think she's really beginning to like me," Blake commented while Yang reached up to open the door for her.

She burst into more loud laughter while holding the door open.

"God, you're so great. I love you."

She froze the instant the words slipped out of her mouth - she couldn't have possibly just said that, right? Maybe Blake hadn't heard it!

But Blake froze too.

Still holding the door with one hand, she turned nervously back towards the author - finding Blake staring very, _very_ intently into her eyes.

"Uh…I mean - w-well, I mean…exactly what I said. I love you, Blake."

She felt her cheeks heat up while waiting anxiously for Blake to reply to her proclamation of love- suddenly excruciatingly aware of how she'd thrown her feelings out into the open without being sure of the author's response.

And this definitely hadn't been how she'd planned on telling Blake her feelings.

This wasn't the rooftop of a high rise at sunset. Or a rose garden in full bloom. There was no string quartet playing in the background or _any_ of the romantic things she had dreamed about.

This was the doorstep of her work trailer, covered in dust and sweat after running through a fake temple all afternoon, with bloodied elbows and knees from her fall.

But she did love Blake. More than anything. And if the author didn't feel the same way by now...well, honestly that would suck, but she could deal with it. She would just keep trying to win over the girl's heart, no matter what -

"I love you too," Blake replied with a big smile, breaking Yang instantly out of her thoughts.

"Yeah?" she asked like a fool, her cheeks aching from the huge smile that had just taken up permanent residence.

"Yes," Blake affirmed in a whisper.

Stepping closer, the author wrapped one hand behind Yang's neck and pulled her abruptly forward into a kiss. Her other hand gathered a handful of Yang's shirt and shoved her up the two stairs into the trailer - drawing a small squeak of surprise from her lips.

"You might be lucky enough to get a quickie, after all," she heard Blake murmur against her lips.

The comment hardly registered in her mind as she got lost in the author's embrace - four little words playing through her mind on repeat.

_She loves me too._


	16. Chapter 16

**I swear I've been writing a lot more than I've been posting! But two items today - THANK YOU to Mr. Blender for drawing the cover for the story! If you haven't checked out his stories yet, you should! If you have any interest in super cute white rose and bumblebee, that is :P **

**Second, I'm going to start posting another story I've written tomorrow - Bumblebee, of course - called Caught. Keep an eye out for it if you're interested in a story with some more drama lol it's not terribly long, but hopefully good! **

**But for now, more fluffy Bees ~~**

* * *

><p>"Are you <em>sure<em> I look ok?"

"Yang - you look amazing. If there's ever a day when you _don't_ look amazing - believe me, I'll let you know."

She placed one hand reassuringly on top of Yang's rapidly bouncing leg, calming the movement almost instantly. Today, she'd finally made good on her promise to have Yang meet one of her friends, which was producing the very adorable unintended consequences on display before her.

After Yang had let her feelings slip, the two of them had been nearly inseparable - whether that meant spending time together or texting/talking on the phone. She felt the urge to tell the blonde that she loved her all the time now, for any reason. All of Yang's cute qualities, which she would have said she 'liked' before, she could now say that she 'loved' - and, best of all, she could _tell_ Yang that she loved them.

But could she say it right now? While sitting at this table waiting for Penny to arrive? Because she really did love the sight of an anxious Yang Xiao Long...

"I don't understand why you're so nervous, anyway," she said instead, not able to help a small smile at how incredibly on edge the blonde seemed to be right now.

"This is one of your oldest friends we're talking about! It's important for her to like me!" Yang nearly wailed, her other knee beginning to bounce up and down uncontrollably.

It was really sweet - how much importance Yang was placing on this meeting with Penny. The blonde had taken the time to look immaculate for the occasion - her blouse and jeans matching perfectly and without a wrinkle to be seen, not a single strand of hair out of place while still appearing appropriately disheveled.

To the average outsider, the girl would have been the epitome of poise and beauty at this moment, but Blake knew much better. The fidgeting knee was the most obvious giveaway, but there was also the way those purple eyes refused to rest on one subject for more than a few seconds, the slight clamminess in her palms that Blake had felt on their walk here, and the faintest of blushes that refused to leave Yang's cheeks.

She supposed that it made sense for Yang to be nervous to meet one of her friends...it wasn't like Blake had any family for Yang to try to impress, so friends might be the next closest thing.

Of course, it really didn't matter what any of her friends thought of Yang now. The blonde was in her life, regardless of what anyone else said. And no one's opinion was ever going to change that. She could have told this to Yang, but for right now it was much more enjoyable to watch the girl fidget uncontrollably.

"She'll love you...but maybe less than I do," she assured Yang, grinning when the adorable blush she had been hoping for made its appearance.

"Why don't you focus on something else while we wait for her to get here?"

"Uh...Ok…"

Yang glanced around them in search of an alternative topic of conversation. They were currently sitting outside one of the more popular lunch restaurants in Vale, waiting for Penny to arrive. There were plenty of people passing to and fro on their own missions for the day, plenty of subjects Yang could latch on to...

"So you said you haven't seen her in awhile?"

She giggled when Yang's eyes finally settled upon her, clearly unable to think about anything other than the impending meeting.

"She's pretty busy, what with being a heart surgeon and all...I usually feel bad taking her time away from literally saving lives. She kinda works like a machine, but even machines need a break once in awhile, right?"

"Absolutely," Yang replied with a grin, the blonde reverting to her usual self the second Blake was in need of reassurance.

A flash of orange hair caught her attention then - picking out Penny from a distance as the girl approached their table from behind Yang's chair.

"Ready?" she asked, smiling at how quickly the grin dropped from Yang's beautiful face as the girl practically shot from her chair and politely turned around to greet their guest.

"Penny!" Blake called out to the girl, waving them in their direction. Penny spotted them the next second and came hurrying over to their table.

Her brow furrowed in confusion when Penny raced up to Yang first and threw her arms around the girl's neck in a big hug. Only after hugging Yang did Penny come over her and give her a hug, as well.

"Yang! Blake! It's great to see you!"

"Uh…you two know each other?" she asked in bewilderment, noticing that Yang was now laughing and nodding her head, any semblance of nerves completely destroyed.

"Yang is the older sister of my good friend Ruby!" Penny answered for the both of them before turning to Blake with sad eyes. "Oh, you never got to meet Ruby, but you two would be great friends."

"Penny would join Ruby and I when we were hanging out sometimes, so we got to know each other a little bit that way," Yang explained in further detail, still chuckling at the coincidence. "But seriously, Penny is a common name - I never even thought that your Penny and Ruby's Penny would be the same one! And Penny, I didn't know you were a _heart surgeon_ - you only said 'doctor!'"

"A heart surgeon is a type of doctor, Yang! But how is Ruby doing? I haven't heard from her in many days."

The genuine worry was evident in Penny's voice as the three of them took their seats at the table, Blake continuing to stare at the two girls while trying to adjust to the new situation.

"Ah...yeah that happens, but don't worry too much. She's probably just lost her phone again," Yang responded with a slight wave of her hand, seemingly completely unconcerned about her sister's well being. Blake knew that that was far from the truth - and that Yang pretended to be indifferent in order to try to convince herself that she wasn't worried.

"I can't believe you two already know each other," she voiced her internal thoughts out loud, still dumbfounded by the sheer coincidence of it all. "And here I thought I was going to see Yang stuttering and nervous for an entire lunch."

"There are _other_ things you can do to make me sputter-y and nervous," Yang replied with a wink.

She felt a blush as she turned away from the suggestive look Yang was now giving her. She watched Penny turn back and forth between the two of them several times, thankfully still blissfully oblivious to that type of conversation.

"So Penny, how's work?" she asked in order to keep her friend from asking any questions that she really didn't want to answer.

"Work is sen-sational!" the girl responded with an emphatic motion of her arms and a huge grin.

The phrase caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"Sensational? What happened to 'spectacular?'"

"One cannot use the same word forever, Blake. At least, that's what Friend Ruby once told me!"

"Ah, that does sound like something Ruby would say," Yang added while unfolding her napkin and placing it in her lap. "Always trying to change, that one. Always moving forward, and always at the speed of light."

Blake stared at Yang for a moment, stunned by how comfortable the blonde now was, before turning back to Penny.

"But 'spectacular' is so much better than 'sensational!'"

Her voice had a slight whine to it, but she didn't like how everything she 'knew' about Penny seemed to have flipped upside down at this moment. First, she turns out to already know Yang - now she's changed her catchphrase?

"Hmm...which word do you prefer more?" Penny asked, directing the question towards Yang.

The blonde blinked like a deer caught in headlights when both girls turned to look her way.

"Uh...well...it doesn't really matter what I think," she finally answered, trying to diplomatically wiggle her way out of a true response.

"Which one do you think Friend Ruby likes more?"

Yang looked guiltily at Blake before muttering a soft 'sensational,' causing Penny to light up once again while Blake shook her head.

"This day is not turning out at all how I thought it would be," she commented, not failing to notice the twinkle reappear in Yang's eye when the blonde opened her mouth to add something inappropriate.

"And if you want your evening to go as planned, you won't say anymore on the matter," she quickly added, cutting off the comment before it even appeared. Of course, the blonde still winked suggestively before pretending to pull a zipper across her lips. Blake rolled her eyes but smiled regardless at the girl's continued antics.

"What do you have planned for the evening?"

Blake flushed at Penny's innocent question as Yang burst out laughing.

"Oh, you know, we're just going to be eating out and stuff," Yang replied with a wink while Blake tried to silence the girl with her glare. "So Penny, how are things going besides work? How are things with your dad - he still have a stick up his butt 'bout you living alone?"

"Things besides work are well and my father is well - the last I checked he did not have a stick up his butt, but I will make sure to double check with him. I imagine he would have needed to go to the hospital if that were true…"

Yang's eyes widened in horror at how misconstrued her question had been, waving her hands in front of her as if that would make it disappear.

"N-no! Don't ask him that! I meant...is he still being overprotective?"

"Oh...well yes, of course. Didn't you notice the two bodyguards who followed me here?" Penny gestured over her shoulder towards the two towering men loitering near the entrance of the restaurant. Now that they'd been pointed out, Blake realized they did look awfully suspicious and out of place in this environment.

"You can't even come to lunch alone?" she asked in shock. "What does he think we'll do?"

"It's not you two he's worried about - it's all the people I had to pass on my way here. But it's not so bad...they're nice guys!"

The waiter appeared by their side, putting their conversation temporarily on pause while he took their orders before disappearing once again.

"I must say that I'm pleased you two are now spending so much time together - you make great partners!" Penny commented happily once the man had walked away.

She grinned at Yang - Penny's ringing endorsement of their relationship more than she'd been expecting from the normally oblivious girl.

"And when Friend Ruby returns, I will finally introduce you. You two would make good partners, too!"

Blinking, she looked at Penny in confusion while Yang burst into giggles.

Just when she'd thought Penny understood...the girl threw a rather awkward monkey wrench into things.

"Uh...Yang?"

"That one's all yours," Yang replied, waving both hands in front of her chest while continuing to giggle.

Sighing, she turned towards Penny, who had been raptly listening to their words.

"Penny…" she began slowly, "Yang and I are together...as in, _dating_ together."

She didn't understand how Penny still failed to grasp these simple social concepts after all these years, but it was one of her more endearing qualities - even if it made situations like these uniquely embarrassing.

Penny blinked at her explanation while processing the information - she could practically see the gears spinning in the girl's head while she sorted through the strange idea.

"Like married, together?" she finally asked, making Yang burst into more laughter before struggling to control herself.

"...yes, like married together," she replied, figuring that might be as close as the girl would get to understanding what she was trying to say.

"Ah, well even if you and Yang are married, you and Ruby can still become great friends!"

Flushing at the words, she just nodded her head, too mortified to continue speaking at the moment.

"So Blake, since we're _married_ and all now...are you thinking you'll take my last name or should I take yours?" Yang asked, eyes dancing with amusement.

She narrowed her eyes across the table at the girl while their waiter set plates filled with food in front of them.

"I would think you'd be in a hurry to take mine and remove association with some of the ill-advised decisions you've made so far under yours," she replied deadpan, bringing a blush to Yang's cheeks but not lessening the girl's grin.

And why wouldn't Yang be grinning? The girl must be enjoying this topic of conversation immensely. But _Yang_ was supposed to be the one squirming through lunch, not the other way around!

"Yang Belladonna sounds great!" Penny chirped, completely missing the silent battle going on between the two of them and deepening a blush on both of their faces.

"Thank you, Penny!" Yang replied happily. "Blake Xiao Long sounds good too, doesn't it? Then Blake can be associated with all of my _misdeeds_."

She flushed deeply from the wink Yang sent her direction, but also from the way Yang's last name sounded attached to her own. Yang Belladonna didn't sound all that bad either...

"W-when do you think Ruby will be back, Yang?" she asked instead, trying to change the subject to _anything_ all three of them could speak about and reasonably expect Penny to understand.

"A few weeks, a few months, tomorrow...I never really know…" Yang replied, much more glumly than Blake had expected. She looked back at the blonde, feeling guilty that her question had caused such a reaction.

"When Ruby does return, we should get together for lunch again!" Penny added, clapping her hands excitedly. "Oh, that will be fun! Then you can finally meet Ruby!"

Blake smiled at Penny until a question popped into her head.

"Wait, what do you mean 'finally' meet her?"

"Because I tried to introduce you when we were in school, remember? At that party right before we graduated, but Friend Ruby had left too early…"

"Woah woah woah," Yang cut in. "Are you telling me that Blake actually went to a _party_ in college?"

She shot Yang a glare, but Penny continued unaffected by the comment.

"Oh yes - a party filled with foam! It is one of my fondest memories from school."

Laughing, Blake vaguely remembered the dark house filled with dirty foam that reeked of spilled beer. That was the same party she'd seen that idiot girl…

Her eyes widened when she remembered the purple eyes and blonde hair - that effortless smile that had stopped her heart.

"Yang, have you ever jumped off a roof before?" she asked out of the blue, catching both of their attentions at her question's abruptness.

"Yeah! Into a swimming pool. Why?"

She smiled and said "no reason," allowing the two girls to continue their conversation as if nothing had happened. Yang glanced at her in confusion, but shrugged her shoulders and kept trying to pry more details from Penny about what Blake had been like in college.

But she kept glancing over at Yang the rest of lunch, now clearly remembering how they'd met years earlier while they were still in school. She would have to tell Yang about it later, since the girl didn't seem to recall much detail from the party.

If someone had told her back then that that foolish party girl would be the one she'd end up with, she would have told that person they were out of their mind. The two of them couldn't have been more different - one wild, free, without a care in the world - the other reserved, responsible, with ambitions that kept her grounded.

They had both changed from that night, but Blake wished she'd been wise enough back then to see all of the good qualities that still shone through Yang's eyes - her kindness, loyalty, selflessness, and passion.

Thankfully, she'd been given a second chance - and this time, she could understand just how much she needed someone like Yang in her life.

And as she caught a few of the loving glances Yang snuck her way, she realized that maybe Yang could use someone like her, as well.


	17. Chapter 17

"Thanks for inviting me out today, Pyrrha," she commented happily while the two of them strolled through the large outdoor shopping area they frequented. It was nice, just the two of them - plus many fans - spending some time together.

Pyrrha laughed at her words though.

"Well, I thought you could use a break from being all lovey dovey with your girlfriend," the model teased.

"Like I would ever need a break from that! Still, it's nice to spend some time with you," she replied, earning a smile of gratitude from the redhead.

They were interrupted then by the sound of Yang's ringtone, a waltzy jig that she didn't know how to change. Pulling out her phone, she furrowed her brow at the out of area number displayed on the screen. Motioning to Pyrrha that she needed to take it, she hit accept call and put the device up to her ear.

"Hello?"

She had long ago learned to answer all calls from strange numbers. Sometimes they turned out to be solicitors or obsessed fans who had somehow managed to get her phone number, but other times, it turned out to be…

"Ember One, this is Ember Two reporting in."

A grin lit up her face and she gave a little hop in excitement at the familiar voice coming through the other end of the line. Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow at her curiously while she attempted to force a straight face to continue the conversation.

"Ember Two, what is your status?" she responded in an official tone. Pyrrha beamed at her, immediately recognizing the call name.

"Reestablishing radio contact after...countless days. Previous communication device was viciously consumed by a pool of muddy water. A new device was purchased, but all signal was lost in the jungles of Vacuo."

"What is your location now, Ember Two?"

"A small hamlet discovered somewhere between Vacuo and Vale - the signal here is pretty bad, but funcional."

The response made her feel relieved, in a way. At least 'somewhere between Vacuo and Vale' would help her narrow down places to send a search and rescue party if needed...

"When are you coming home?"

She dropped the authoritative tone to ask the most important question, hoping that, this time, she would receive a definitive answer. Even an approximate one would do…

"Uh...I don't know yet, Yang. We still have quite a few places we haven't seen!"

Static cut across the call, while the sounds of shouting could be heard coming from the background.

"Wait - Ruby - did you just say 'we?' Who's 'we?'"

"Shoot. Yang, I have to go. I'm sorry! Talk soon - I love you!"

"Ruby -!"

Sighing, she looked down at the phone to see that the call had already ended.

"Love you too…" she muttered unhappily, knowing that the person on the other end of the line wouldn't hear those words.

Feeling a hand land gently upon her shoulder, she looked up to find Pyrrha giving her a sympathetic smile - the model knowing quite well just how much Ruby's absence got to her.

Drawing a shaky breath, she tried to calm herself down - forcing a smile.

"R-Ruby says 'hello,'" she said, even though she knew Pyrrha would see through the lie.

"It's ok to admit you're worried about her, you know."

"Yeah...but I don't want her to feel guilty for making me worry, you know?" she answered truthfully.

She had thought about telling Ruby many times exactly how much she worried when she didn't know where the girl was. It would be one thing if the brunette was able to hang onto a phone for more than a few days at a time - but the periods of no communication ate away at her nerves.

But it was a part of who Ruby was, at least for now. The girl was still young and full of energy - her avid curiosity making her want to see every inch of the world they lived in. And Yang knew that if she voiced her concerns or her worries, Ruby _would_ feel guilty leaving and doing what she truly desired. She would probably even stay, just for Yang's sake.

So, as much as she secretly worried, she never mentioned a thing - because it would be much worse to take away the one thing Ruby had found to be passionate about.

She just wished that what Ruby was passionate about was something that stayed exclusively within the city limits of Vale.

"Might I suggest some retail therapy?" Pyrrha said, waving her hand towards one of Yang's all time favorite clothing stores.

Quickly pushing her concerns about Ruby to the back of her mind, she smiled.

"You know me too well," she replied, striding into the store with a laughing Pyrrha Nikos right on her heels.

* * *

><p>They emerged from the store some time later with Yang carrying a bag filled with several new articles of clothing. The shopping area was much busier now, with the dinner rush just about to hit full swing. She glanced around, surprised at the increased hustle and bustle, until her eyes slid across two familiar faces.<p>

"Hey, isn't that -"

"No, it isn't!" Pyrrha hastily cut her off, abruptly turning around and walking in the opposite direction. She grabbed the model by the arm with a big smile, preventing her friend from escaping.

"It _is_ them!" she said, grinning at Pyrrha's pleading expression before waving towards the pair.

"Nora! Jaune!"

The two nighttime talk show hosts turned in their direction at the sound of their names, with Nora instantly lighting up and bounding over to say hello to Yang with a big hug.

"Yang! And Pyrrha - wow, wouldn't expect to be bumping into you here. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, just a little afternoon shopping with this beauty here. Jaune, I believe the two of you have met before?" Yang replied, giggling at the blush on the tall, blonde boy's face.

"Hi Pyrrha," he said, shyly directing his eyes anywhere but at Pyrrha.

"Hello Jaune," the redhead replied just as demurely, much to Yang's surprise.

She glanced between the two of them, confused about the lackluster greeting.

"You've been quite the news lately - what with that author you've been seen with," Nora cut in excitedly, not noticing the subdued interaction between her co-host and the model. "You _have_ to come on the show again and talk about her."

"Uh...I don't know, Nora. She's a pretty private person…" she replied, but Nora was not to be so easily dissuaded.

"No! You have to! I'll do anything!"

She laughed at the offer, knowing that the girl would, in fact, do anything. There wasn't really anything she wanted that badly...but an idea occurred to her then, causing a sly grin to appear on her face.

"Well, I don't really want anything from _you_...but I do want something from _him_," she nodded towards Jaune, whose jaw fell open in surprise.

"Me?" he asked in a high, squeaky voice at the same time Pyrrha screeched "What?!" from beside her.

"He'll do it! Whatever it is - right Jaune?" Nora said, giving the boy a forceful glare that said he had better agree with Yang's terms.

"Ok, I guess…"

She couldn't help beaming - knowing that her plan was ingenious and guaranteed to be a success. Of course, she would love to run the idea by Blake first just to double check...but out in the real world, one had to grasp the opportunity when it presented itself!

"Perfect," she replied with a smile. "Then I want you to take Pyrrha out on a date."

"Yang!" Pyrrha chided her sharply, suddenly springing to life as she turned to reassure Jaune. "You _really_ don't have to do that - don't listen to her -"

"Oh, w-well I wouldn't mind, I just wouldn't want to imp-oof!"

Jaune's words were cut off when Nora planted a firm elbow in his rib cage, nearly knocking the boy from his feet.

"Deal!" she replied for her friend with a bright smile before turning to Pyrrha. "He'll pick you up tomorrow at 7 - and I'll even make sure he wears something nice."

Yang laughed while Pyrrha and Jaune continued to look at the two of them in dismay, both of their cheeks horribly flushed in embarrassment while their jaws hung open in shock.

"Great - then just have Ren call Glynda and set up a day," Yang replied, now more than happy to fulfill her end of the bargain. "Are the two of you still together, by the way?"

"_Are_ we," Nora responded with a giggle. "I can't get enough of my Rennie! In fact, the only reason I'm here with Jaune instead of him is because he had to go to the doctor to make sure he didn't break something the last time we -"

"Ooook Nora!" Jaune suddenly interrupted, grabbing ahold of the girl's arm and dragging her away. "I don't think they want to hear that - if they did, they could just stop by the studio after the show wraps for the live version - but we should really get going now before we're late picking him up."

Waving back at them, Nora just laughed at Jaune's words before willingly walking away with him.

"I'll see you soon!" the bubbly girl called back to her.

She waved at the two until they had disappeared into the crowds. It was only then that she turned to her friend with a small amount of trepidation.

"I _can't_ believe you just did that," Pyrrha said, looking more than moderately upset about what had just transpired.

"Oh come on! _Someone_ had to make the first move - and it certainly wasn't going to be _either_ of you two."

Pyrrha's only response was to continue glowering at her, arms crossed over her chest while she waited for an apology.

"I thought you'd be excited! You have a date with Jaune now!" she insisted, suddenly wondering if maybe she had gone a little too far. But she really believed she'd done the right thing to help her friend...

"Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there and risk making a complete fool of yourself. Don't you think I looked like a complete moron when I stumbled into Blake in that restroom? But I didn't let that stop me from asking her out!"

Pyrrha blinked once.

"Wait...restroom? You told me that you met at a book signing!"

"Er...yeah, the restroom at a book signing..." she admitted, feeling a blush appear. "So! What are you going to wear for your date?"

"Oh, there are some details there that I need to hear," Pyrrha replied with a laugh, her anger easily dissolving. "And you can tell me while we shop for what I'm going to wear tomorrow night."


End file.
